Live like we're dying
by Gavin Tyson
Summary: There are only 86400 seconds in a day, 604800 seconds in a week, 2629743.83 in a month and 31556926 in a year. Yu knew this all too well because a year was all he had left, an accident happened and he was sent to live with his uncle in Inaba. He was so young and yet he was fated to die in just a year, could it be possible to be happy for his last year? Perhaps... YuXNaoto
1. 1:Live like We're Dying

**Live Like We're Dying**

 **A/N: Hey there! This story came to me some time ago and I recently decided to begin it, as this is my first big thing of Fanfiction (the third written piece of fiction for Fanfiction) I really hope this does well and you enjoy it, if not, please let me know where I can improve!**

 **Chapter 1: If Your life flashed before you!**

" _Yu! YU! ARE YOU OKAY!?"_

 _Blurry figures enshroud his vision, he can't see… but he can at the same time? Everything's so very blurry, it hurt his eyes, he wanted to close his eyes, but he couldn't, his eyes wouldn't shut… how utterly bizarre._

" _YU, CAN YOU HEAR ME?"_

 _That voice again, so loud, so annoying, all he wanted was to close his eyes and go to sleep, he was unusually tired, so very tired right now. He's close his eyes, take a quick nap, he'd find out whose voice it was when he woke up._

" _NO, DON'T CLOSE YOUR EYES HONEY, JUST STAY WITH ME, DON'T CLOSE YOUR EYES!"_

 _Just a quick nap._

" _His internal organs have suffered terrible damage I'm afraid, we'll do what we can but…"_

" _Please Yu, come back to us! We can't lose you like this, y-your dad is on his way right now"._

" _Son! You just take it easy, take your time to heal, we'll be right here when you wake up, just make sure to get back to us"._

" _I'm afraid I have some bad news Mrs and Mr Narukmi…"_

 _White flashing lights, everywhere, nothing but white lights, it hurt his eyes, well he assumed it hurt his eyes, he couldn't feel anything._

 _Where was he?_

" _We did everything we could, however it seems that the accident right some severe internal organ damage, the actual extent of the damage is unknown to us at this moment… but I'll be frank… I'm not so optimistic"._

 _He felt numb… no that's wrong, feeling numb meant there was something to feel in the first place, wherever he was right now, made him completely weightless._

" _ **It seems that our guest has arrived at an impasse, caused entirely by something out of his control, oh how the hand of fate likes to change the cards at the table as they wish".**_

 _That voice, he felt like he heard that voice before, and yet at the same time, he felt like he had not, how was this possible?_

" _He's lost the ability to use his right arm, and the rest of his right side of his body has all of the nerves destroyed, he'll be able to walk, but it'll take some time before he'll be able to walk like he used to"._

 _That sounded… bad? He assumed so at least, he wasn't sure how to feel to be honest._

" _ **However, even though it seems like fate has deigned to make it even more difficult for you, your destiny cannot be altered."**_

 _Destiny? Fate? He didn't understand, he felt that he should, but he couldn't._

" _I'm afraid that isn't everything, I'd recommended for you two to sit down, this piece of news might be hard to swallow"._

 _Ohh… that sounded important, also bad, but he didn't care, he was too absorbed by the bright lights, and the strange voice in his head._

" _ **Please be aware, even though fate may have increased your hardships, it is no reason to give in, perhaps this hardship will strengthen you in the future? Who knows… so go now, we will meet again."**_

" _Due to the extremely excessive damage to your son's internal organs, I'm afraid to say that he is living on borrowed time."_

 _He could hear crying, disparate crying, utter despair, that's what he felt from the man and the woman he assumed to be his parents._

" _We estimate he has maybe a year and half right to live"._

 _Oh my…_

" _ **Go now, and show Fate what a Fool can do!"**_

His eyes opened in shock, as he lurched forward, his eyes scanning his surroundings in panic, greyish walls, comfy leather seat, large window showing the beautiful countryside of Japan sliding by. He calmed down, he was on a train, the train to Inaba, where his uncle lived, realising where he was, he wiped his brow with his left hand, taking note of the abundance of sweat that had piled up, why did his mind wander back to then of all places? Whose voice was that? What did fate and Fools have to do with him. He glanced down to his right arm, it hung loosely by his side, limp as a noodle, as useless as the day the accident happened, a scowl crossed his face at the thought, before he sighed. Staring at his right leg, he brought his finger down and poked it as hard as he could.

Nothing, he could feel absolutely nothing.

Just like before.

He retracted his finger, chuckling darkly, what did he think would happen? That his right side would feel again? That his right arm would move again?

A fool's dream.

That brought a chuckle from him.

"We are now arriving at Yasoinaba, anyone who wishes to depart, please gather your luggage and patiently wait".

 _That's my cue I guess._

Standing up, he shakes his right leg to properly adjust himself to walking on it again, after sitting down for long period of time. It took him a while for his body to adjust to not feeling his right leg walk, but he had managed to relearn how to walk, and had even started to run again.

It was a process, he'd admit that, it was a long and arduous process.

And chances are, he wouldn't even live to see the fruits of his labour.

A self-deprecating smirk marked his face.

He grabbed the handle of the rolling bag, and pulled it towards the departing door, it'd be at least a minute before the train came to a complete stop. Releasing his handle, he retrieved his phone from his coat pocket, the lock-screen read.

 _360_

A frown found its way on his face as he unlocked his phone and re-read the message from his parents.

 _Hey! Son! So, glad you decided to visit your uncle, it's been years upon years since he's seen you, and because of the… incident, we all agreed it best if you spend time with all of your relatives and experience what life would be like in the country, the doctors said it'd be good for you… we hope you have fun there son, we love you so much, you know that!_

He closed his phone in anger. "All agreed" indeed, they had practically forced him into moving to his uncles for the year.

"Please step back from the doors, we have arrived at Yasoinaba, we hope you decide to ride with us again someday".

After the announcement, the doors opened and he took his first step into his new life for the year.

And what was most likely his last year.

 **{Line-break}**

"Hey! There you are!"

His head swivelled to the voice, taking note of the two approaching figures, one an adult male, the other an adolescent girl. He inwardly grimaced, trust his parents not to tell him his uncle had a kid, oh what fun conversations he would have with her about his condition. The moment the pair drew closer to him, the man glanced at his useless right arm and grimaced, before quickly schooling his features, whilst the girl simply openly stared at his dangling arm.

"Hey there! I'm Ryotaro Dojima, I'm basically your mothers younger brother, and that about sums it up!"

… Why the roundabout explanation?

"Man, it's be years since I've seen you, the last time I did, I changed your diapers hahah!"

He almost openly sighed in annoyance.

His eyes caught the young child staring at his face, but it was more like she was staring into his soul, from the way her innocently inquisitiveness eyes stared at him. It was unnerving to say the least. His uncle must have noticed where he was looking and patted the girl on the head.

"This little angel is Nanako, Nanako say hello to your cousin".

The girl named Nanako poked her head from behind her dad's leg and mumbled a shy hello. Dojima laughed at this.

"What's wrong? Don't be shy! Sorry about this, you know how young kids are eh?"

He almost laughed at the embarrassed slap Nanako gave her father, but he did smile.

"Anyway, my cars over there, ya ready to go Yu?"

Yu nodded as he went to grab his bags handle before Dojima rushed to help.

"Here, let me get that".

"I've got it, trust me".

"I insist, let me, you must be tired."

He glared at his uncle.

"I said I got this uncle, please let me do this!" Dojima paused at the glare and the words, before glancing at his right side and back to his car. He sighed in acceptance.

"Okay, bring it over to the car and we'll pack it up, but we gotta head to the gas-station first, I forgot to fill up my car earlier".

Yu simply nodded as he followed behind.

 **{Line-break}**

"Well, remember we're always looking to hire more students".

The gas attendant outstretched his right hand and Yu simply puts his left one out and doesn't offer an explanation, as the gas-man put his left hand out to shake, they shook and Yu turned back to the car, suddenly feeling utterly drained. He panicked, not now, not here. He leaned onto his uncle's car to stable himself as he felt his world turn upside down. His eyes closed in pain, this was a really bad episode apparently, he hadn't had one this bad since he just got of hospital a few months ago.

"Are you okay? You look ill."

Nanako's concerned voice broke through his mental panic, all he could do was cough out his uncle's name, immediately she ran to grab her father.

As she did this Yu simply tried to calm his breathing as the pain rose in his chest, his injuries were acting up for some reason, but why? He hadn't done anything strenuous today, it shouldn't be anywhere near this bad. Suddenly he felt a large hand on his back.

"Hey, hey! Stay with me, where's your meds!?"

Yu couldn't speak, he could only point towards his shoulder bag.

Dojima wasted no time scrounging through it, quickly finding a small pill bottle, he opened the lid and dropped a couple onto his palm, he rushed back to his nephew.

"Here you are!"

Yu managed to swallow the pills, hoping that they worked quickly, he waited a moment, and then another, his heart rate slowed and his breathing returned to acceptable levels. He turned his head to his uncle, taking note of the obvious worry and fear for his nephew, he also noticed the abject terror on Nanako's face, he'd have to talk to her about his issue sooner than later apparently.

"Hey, are you okay?"

He wanted to say no, he was not okay and that'd he'd probably never be okay, he had a year to live for god's sake, how could he be okay!?

But he didn't, he held it back, he held it all back, like always, he simply nodded and got into the car, muttering a quick thanks to his uncle as he did so.

He just wanted to sleep.

 **{Line-break}**

The ride to Dojima's ws wonderfully awkward, Nanako stared at him, her innocent eyes filled with terror, Dojima as quiet as a mouse.

This year was going to be just lovely it seemed.

When they arrived there, he asked where his room was and went straight to bed, the pills might have helped but he needed rest to fully recover, and his head was beginning to kill him, hopefully this was a one off from taking two pills, as he didn't want to add headaches to his already extremely long list of problems.

The second his head hit the pillow, he was out like a light.

 **{Line-break}**

" _ **Can you seek the truth of this world? Can you save it? Or will you ultimately fail? Just like your health?"**_

 **{Line-break}**

Tired eyes open, a tired body awakens, he leans up, scratching his chin, as he began to get of his bed, he collapsed to the ground as he found his numb right leg still limp on the bed, he growled loudly as he pushed himself to his feet, his eyes narrowing angrily as he sees his limp arm dangle uselessly.

It all sucked.

Finding his new school uniform, he manages to manoeuvre his limp arm through its sleeve, his slides his school jacket over his white-t-shirt, he didn't even bother trying to button up his jacket and simply let it hang open, the school could bitch and moan all they wanted, he wasn't going to spend half-an-hour trying to button a jacket and ultimately fail. Walking to the door to his room, he glances at his arm and without warning, swings his right arm into the wall, nothing once again.

And with that he opened the door and headed downstairs to begin his first day

 _359_

He carefully moved down the stairs, keeping his numb leg in his mind as he descended, he did not want a repeat of that particular incident.

It took him days before he attempted to conquer stairs again after that.

"Good morning! I made breakfast!"

Nanako's high-pitched voice struck him as he reached the ground-floor, his brows rose at the sight of the girl who couldn't be older than ten, dishing up a plate of toast at the kitchen counter. He made his way towards it and offered a small thank-full smile to her. Sitting himself down at the counter, he grasped the toast with his usable hand and began eating. The toast was burnt and far too crunchy, with almost next to no butter on it, in all honesty, it was a pitiful attempt at toast. But it was a kind gesture.

And sometimes that was all that mattered.

"My schools on the way to yours, so we can walk together on the way there okay?" her voice was quiet and unsure of itself, not wanting to overstep her boundaries with the almost stranger before her.

"Sounds like a plan Nanako." He almost stalled at the sound of his own voice, it sounded very tired, even more tired than he thought it'd be. For a second, he thought about rescinding accepting her offer, but the small happy smile that made its way onto Nanako's face stopped him, he would always be a sucker for overly cute people.

He finished his toast, thanking Nanako he went to wash up the dish, but Nanako had taken the plate before he could. He didn't know if it was because she thought he was incapable or simply that she was far too kind for her own good. Grabbing his coat, he attempted to slide his useless arm into the sleeve, so far it was a fruitless effort filled with annoyed muttering.

"Here… let me help please…"

Such a quiet voice, he almost missed it entirely, but from where Nanako stood on-top of a chair she held her arms out to help. He wanted to say no, he wanted to simply power through his failings and prove he didn't need help, he didn't need help.

He didn't need anyone's god-damned pity.

However, his younger cousin's eyes held no pity, only the urge to help.

It seemed it was the latter option.

He stood before the young girl and put his back to her, as she held up his right coat sleeve, he held his limp arm at the sleeve entrance and slid it through, trial overcome.

"Thanks, Nanako…" The thanks were genuine and heartfelt.

He waited for Nanako to put on her small puffy coat, it was pink and overly cute. A running theme for the young girl it seemed.

 **{Line-break}**

The walk to the schools was just as he envisioned, awkward filled with a certain curious girl taking quick glances at his dangling limp noodle of an arm. He inwardly sighed, might as well get this over with as soon as possible.

"You can ask Nanako, it's fine, I'm sure you're wondering…"

A small eep! Escaped his companions mouth as she faced away from him at being caught. This lasted for a few seconds, before her head turned back to his arm, courage bubbling up in her eyes.

"Wh-what happened?"

"I got involved in an accident… I woke up in hospital a few weeks later with my right arm unusable, and the rest of my right side of my body completely numb…" He didn't forget to mention his ticking clock, it'd be far too harsh to tell such a young child that her older cousin was living on borrowed time, he was unsure if explaining his body's issues could be considered decent in the first place. Nanak didn't respond at first, in fact she didn't respond for at least a few minutes, most likely running through what she learnt in her mind over and over, he did notice a small sad frown mar her face, and he felt somewhat bad about telling her. Nothing he could do now though as they continued onwards.

The silence continued for what seemed like forever and he wanted nothing more than it to end. When it almost became too much and he was about to open his mouth, she spoke.

"Do-does it hurt?" Such a quiet voice, some people could find it annoying, but he just found it endearing of her.

"Not anymore no… it never did, the moment I woke up, I felt nothing in my right side, ever since then I've taken extra care of my left side…"

"Bu-but what about what happened yesterday? You w-were in pain?"

This girl was too smart for her age.

"That's sadly a side-effect of what happened, I get these… episodes I guess? Where my injuries resurface and… well let's just say I feel not great during them." He couldn't tell her his internal organs were practically smashed beyond repair, it wouldn't be right. Nanako nodded silently as they moved onwards.

 **{Line-break}**

They reached a water-front, and Nanako stopped.

"My schools that direction, yours is down the water-front… see you after school?" The way she framed the statement sounded more like a question in all honesty.

"That's fine, do you want me to pick you up when you finish?" The question spurted from his mouth before he knew what happened, why was he offering such a thing? Why did he care?

Nanako stalled for a moment, her eyes betraying her mind working at full-pelt. Finally, she smiled, shaking her head.

"No, it's fine, thanks for asking though!" and with that she went off.

That girl is more of an adult then he was.

He shook his head and headed towards the school building he could see peeking over the horizon.

"GET OUTTA THE WAY!"

He barely had a second to turn before he felt himself fly through the air, something had pushed into him from behind, thankfully they hit his numb side, so he had time to assess the fact that he was currently flying, wait, he wasn't flying, as the floor coming up to him informed him of his coming impact, thinking quickly he manoeuvred his body to land squarely on his right side, his body shifted when he hit the ground and slid a few inches across the gravel. He laid there for a moment.

What a fantastic first day!

"Whoa dude! Are you okay!?" The voice was male, concerned… he was also an asshole on a bike apparently.

He picked himself up, dusted his right arm off, as well as his right leg, making sure nothing was broken before he stormed onwards, completely ignoring the person who just knocked him down.

"Whoa, hey man! Wait up, are you okay?"

Just ignore him Yu, don't even acknowledge him, let your rage filter out, don't look at him.

Do NOT knock his ass onto the ground.

He simply rushed onwards, he needed to get away.

 **{Line-break}**

He managed to leave the person who knocked him down behind and ended up at the school's front gates.

He needed to assess his right sides damage, even though he couldn't feel any damage, it didn't mean he hadn't be hurt. But he needed to get to his first ever class, he couldn't be late, could he?

He looked at the time on his phone, his eyes catching the number.

 _359_

He shrugged his shoulder, to hell with being on-time for his first day, besides it's not like it mattered in the long run.

 **{Line-break}**

After checking over his body in the bathroom, he found that his entire right side was covered in bruises, he prodded his body's side, he felt that nothing was broken and his leg still worked the same as before, but he'd have to apply some ointment to it when he got home, he couldn't risk leaving a serious injury untreated, even if he couldn't feel it. He checked the time, he was almost twenty minutes late, joy. He found his way to his classroom and sighed, he glanced at his arm, it was weak, unusable, frail compared to his good arm, it was obvious at a glance he couldn't use it, he'd just have to hope he didn't enter to a sea of pity, he'd really hate that. Taking a deep breath, he grabbed the handle and slid it open, he was ready.

"WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE PUNK? SHOWING UP THIS LATE!"

And then there's this asshole.

 **{Line-break}**

"Hello, my name is Yu Narukami, it's nice to meet you all" His introduction was quick and succinct.

"NOW, LISTEN HERE BRAT, YOU BETTER NOT LET ME CATCH THIS LATE AGAIN, YOU HEAR ME? SCUM LIKE YIU DO NOT GET SECOND CHANCES AT LIFE, DO YOU HEAR ME MAGGOT?"

Oh, this guy… this fu**ing guy was a comedian now.

He clenched his good fist, he needed this to stop right the hell now, otherwise he'd do something he'd regret.

"OH, sir, can he sit next to me!?"

A girl with blond bowl-shaped hair put her hand in the air, and offered his escape from this situation. The teacher sighed in annoyance, and waved his hand towards the girl dismissively. He moved passed his moron of a teacher, keeping his eyes away from looking at everyone's curious, and sympathetic eyes. He slid into his seat, and held his limp arm onto his desk, it was such a pity he was right-handed before the incident, his writing was barely legible to him.

"Psh… he's a real piece of work ain't he?" the girl who 'saved' him whispered to him. He only nodded, that was certainly one way to describe his new teacher, although he'd figure a piece of shit to be more apt for describing his buck-toothed excuse of a teacher.

"We call him king Moron, but geez! Being on his list on your first day, and being late at that, what were you thinking?" the question was a good one, but a good question didn't necessarily mean it was worth answering.

"I'm Chie Satonaka, it's good to meet ya!"

He nodded in response.

"Yu Narukami, like I said before…" and he left it at that, totally not noticing her glances at his arm.

School was going to be a trial and a half it seemed.

 **{Line-break}**

"AND THAT'S THE END OF TODAYS LESSON, GET OUTTA HERE".

Thank-god.

He stood up, stretching his usable arm, heaved his satchel over his shoulder and was about to head out.

"Attention all students, there has been an incident, we politely request that everyone make their way home as quickly as possible!"

The intercom turned off, he wondered what that could've been about, shaking his head he reached the door.

"Hey! Narukami-san! Do you wanna walk home with us?"

Us? He turned his head to see that Chie girl and another black-haired girl with long hair next to her.

One raised brow later and she introduced her friend.

"Oh, this is Yukiko Amagi, her family runs a famous inn here in Inaba!"

He nods, he didn't particularly care, but he nodded all the same. The introduced Yukiko bowed her head at him.

"I'm Yukiko Amagi, I'm sorry for what King Moron said to you". She seemed nice enough at least, maybe overly polite, but it could be worse he supposed. He nodded at her, he should probably accept their offer, even if it was just to get a bit more of this town mapped out… he just hopped he could keep up with their walking speed, maybe he could ask them to slow down? No, that'd be showing weakness and with a quick glance at his arm told him that he already showed enough weakness. He'd grin and bear, not the grinning part though.

"Hey, don't be so polite all the time, makes it look like I got no proper upbringing!" Chie exclaimed, her face a flushed with embarrassment. These two were just two peas in a pod, weren't they? He was about to accept their offer when a fellow classmate sidled up to Chie, his face filled with fear as he held a DVD case towards her.

"This film was really good Satonaka-san, the fight scenes were top-notch! I'm really sorry for what happened, I'll be sure to pay you back when I get my next pay check!" He recognised that voice, it was the same as the idiot who knocked him down earlier today, he was tempted to let him know that he was still annoyed at his accident when Chie opened the DVD case and cried out in anger. Without explanation, she shot her leg out and kick him square in the nuts.

"AWww, total…knock-out…" As he crumpled to the ground.

He smiled openly, his revenge was answered now.

"Total moron, c'mon Yukiko and Narukami-san, let's leave this idiot alone!" and she stormed out of the room, her friend following behind, he stalled for a moment and looked down at the writhing kid on the ground. Would it be wrong to spit on him? Yeah it would sadly. But that didn't mean he had to help him, stepping over him, he followed the girls, a spring to his step.

 **{Line-break}**

"Hey Yukiko-chan, do you want to go on a date with me?"

Where did he come from?

A rather disturbing looking teen slid from around a corner and stepped in-front of Yukiko, his eyes filled with obvious lust. Yukiko, for her part, didn't outright slap the lust out of his face, but instead shied away, uncomfortable with the lecherous perv. Instead Chie scared him away with a threatening look.

"To hell with you! You're not worth the effort!" he shouted as he scurried away.

"I guess someone else failed the Amagi challenge eh?" The boy from before turned up, a smirk on his face, a smirk which he would lose soon enough Yu thought as he pointedly ignored the kid and continued onnwards, the two girls following him.

"Oi, what the? Um… see ya tomorrow then!? I'll just grab my bike… WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO MY BIKE?"

He smirked, it felt good to get petty revenge now and again.

 **{Line-break}**

"So, do you think Yukiko is pretty?"

Not really.

"She is."

Yukiko blushed, and Chie gasped at the straight-forward answer.

Lying was too easy sometimes.

 **{Line-break}**

OH! A dead body?

"Whoa! Did we hear that right? Hung from a tv antenna, that's terrifying…"

Indeed. He scanned the scene on the other-side of the police barricade, it seemed like every officer in this small town had come out for this crime, however he more annoyed/disturbed at all the random civilians simply pointing and gaping at the scene before them. Although he supposed that he was doing the exact same thing right now. Done looking around, he turned to leave, someone was murdered? What a shame… everyone dies at some point, no skin of my back.

"Hey! What are you kids doing here!?" That was a familiar voice and he turned back to the crime to find his Uncle storming towards them, a frown on his weathered face. Great…

"We-We were just walking home!" Chie answered nervously, unsure of what to do with the intensive stare Dojima was giving the group of teens. Yukiko nodded as well to corroborate her friends story. Dojima's eyes scanned the two girls before landing on him.

"That damn school, we told them to not let anyone come down this way!"

"Has there really been a murder!?" Chie couldn't help it apparently, her morbid curiosity overriding her previous nervousness, Dojima glared for a moment before sighing.

"All I'm going to say is that this is an important police investigation, and that you should all hurry home. Especially you Yu."

Why'd he single him out? Did he think he was unable to take care of himself?

"Huh? Do you two know each-other?" Chie was more attentive then she initially seemed he supposed.

"Oh right. Well I'm his uncle, he's staying with me for the year, so I guess… Please take care of my nephew."

His eyes narrowed dangerously, he didn't think he was capable at all! He didn't want to be here anymore, he waved at his uncle and turned away, not caring in the slightest if the two girls followed him, he needed to get away from his uncle before he said something.

He was capable… He was.

More capable then the sad sap who died anyway.

 **{Line-break}**

After they left the atmosphere felt awkward, whether it was because of him or the crime-scene before he didn't know nor care in the slightest.

"Well that was pretty creepy, right? Inaba's such a small town that someone being killed is a huge thing." Chie's voice held a tinge of fear and he wondered why she was bringing it up if she was worried about it? You didn't have to talk about things that scared you.

He felt like a hypocrite by believing that, he wasn't sure why.

The group arrived at an inter-section and Chie and Yukiko stopped. He turned to them, his arm swaying slightly in the wind.

"Well this is our stop, we have to head that way."

He nodded, but he suddenly felt ashamed of himself, he just spent the entire walk being silent and unapproachable, even though these two may have only asked to walk with him for gossip, they still walked with him; the new kid in small town.

"Listen, I'm sorry for being so weird, was just thinking about some things, thank-you for walking with me Satonaka-san, Amagi-san." He even bowed his head slightly, going above and beyond in his point of view, to his slight amusement, both girls blushed In embarrassment, Chie even waving her arms in-front of her.

"There's no need to say sorry! I-It was fine, couldn't just let the new guy get lost eh?"

Just take the apology.

"Okay then… if you're sure, thanks again for the company, I'll see you both tomorrow?" His question was answered with two quick nods as the girls turned away and began their trek home, waving at him, to which he responded accordingly. Once they left his sight, he almost fell to the ground in an exhausted mess, sweat pouring down his forehead, looking around, he found a nearby bench and sat himself down, taking deep breaths to alleviate his exhaustion, looking down at his numb leg, he hadn't walked that far that quickly since before the accident, he wasn't used to it, his leg wasn't used to it, he could barely keep up with Chie and Yukiko, but he couldn't, he couldn't ask them to slow down.

He was sick of pitying eyes.

All he needed right now was a few moments to himself, he'd be okay soon.

Well, he wouldn't be really, he thought darkly.

He took this moment to look around, he was on the main shopping street in Inaba it seemed, there was a small shrine nearby, a few closed shops, an off-license, some food places, one of them a rather nice-looking noodle bar, and a textiles shop.

A textile shop? What even was that!?

"You alright there?"

A deep voice broke him from his musings to see a rather intimidating blond-haired teen in the same school uniform as himself, the teen was giving him a concerned look, he was taken aback for a second, he'd never assume a kid like this would show actual concern, they seemed like a rough and tumble sort of person. But the worried eyes betrayed his thuggish style.

"I'm fine, thanks, just getting my breath, not as healthy as I used to be."

The blond teen shot a look at his limp arm before returning to his eyes.

"I can see."

Wasn't a subtle teen, was he?

The punkish looking teen looked around awkwardly, obviously not expecting to even get a response from the disabled teen. For Yu's part, he just continued to stare, the punk seemed nice enough and he could honestly do with some conversation right now.

"What's your name?"

"What's it too ya!?"

Ouch, bit harsh eh?

"You came to make sure I was okay, I wanted to thank the persona who checked on me, so I need to know your name." his answer may have been overly logical and long-winding, but that was simply him in a nutshell.

A windbag.

The punk almost looked embarrassed at his response, perhaps feeling sorry for his initial abrasiveness.

"Names Kanji Tatsumi…"

Cool name. He almost laughed at Kanji's quiet answer, he seemed so surprised that someone was willing to pay him a compliment, it was kind of sad if true.

"Well then Tatsumi-san, thank you for making sure I was okay!" His thanks were honest and heartfelt. Kanji smiled at him, and straightened his back as if an awkward weight was upon his shoulders.

"No-problem… wh-what's yer name?"

He was so embarrassed it was almost too much.

"I'm Yu Narukami, Tatsumi-san."

"Kanji."

"What?"

"Call me Kanji, Tatsumi-san makes me feel old."

He smiled slightly.

"Very-well Kanji, call me Yu then, it's only fair after all right?"

Kanji nodded, agreeing. His eyes then looked at the space on the bench next to me, he was not good at subtlety at all apparently. He decided to throw the poor punkish teen a bone.

"Hey, I'm rather new around here, do you mind perhaps pointing out some cool things about Inaba?"

Kanji smiled and nodded as he plopped himself down next to Yu, take care not to accidentally sit on his limp arm.

"So, this is basically the main shopping area, it's a bit shit, but it's home. Over there is…"

 **{Line-break}**

He and Kanji talked for a while, Kanji explain what each shop was, even telling him his family owned the textile shop, he found out Kanji was a year junior to himself at the school, and Kanji awkwardly tried to avoid asking about his condition, but Yu just mentioned that his arm was useless, forgoing his other conditions, only his arm was obvious with its issues, nobody had to realise his entire right was knackered. After a while Yu decided he had to get home, he thanked Kanji again and mentioned they should hang out again sometime, to which Kanji; blushing with embarrassment agreed with. After that they said their goodbyes. And Yu headed home, his energy regained, and a new friend? He assumed?

 **{Line-break}**

He opened the door to Dojima's house to see only Nanako kneeling at the table near the TV, her eyes finding him.

"Welcome home."

He looked around, it seemed like Dojima was still investigating the crime scene.

"Dad's at work, he won't be home till late again."

Again? This sort of thing was common?

He walked forward, his numb leg banging into the kitchen counter, Nanako jumped at the sound and shot a worried look at him, for his part his face didn't even blink at the bang, the numb leg giving him no pain, as he simply sat at the table as well, letting a sigh of relief leave his body. He expected his first day of school to be tiering, but he was outright exhausted.

"How was your first day?" Nanako's shy voice broke him from his thoughts.

"It was okay I guess. Met some interesting people."

"Were they nice?"

"Some of them were."

"A-are they your friends?"

He smiled on the inside, she was like a caring mother, trying to make sure her son had a good first, it was adorable to see as Nanako waited with baited breath for his answers.

"I suppose one of them is, this nice boy named Kanji, he helped me check out the shopping district, he goes to the same school and is a first-year."

"So, you're his senpai?"

"I suppose I am. Anyway, enough of me, how was your day Nanako? Did you have fun?"

Nanako's face scrunched up in irritation.

"I'll have you know, our teacher taught us some of our times-tables, there wasn't time for fun!"

He chuckled good-naturedly, he should've assumed Nanako was more mature kids her age, probably thinking he thought of her as some simple child.

"Oh really? Which ones?"

Nanako's eyes took on a thoughtful look, her finger pressed against her chin, she was going to be battering suitors away with a stick when she was older, she was too cute for her own good.

"Umm… she taught us our 2, 3,4 and fives tables, but I learnt my six times tables!" She beamed at her bragging, her smile practically lighting up her entire face.

"That's amazing Nanako! Can you tell me them?"

She nodded enthusiastically and began her six times tables, she stalled at a few of them, but managed to finish them all correctly, after, she looked towards him, seemingly waiting for his admiration. He would've clapped for her, but, well… he ended up giving her a beaming thumb up. Suddenly the TV blared and an advert's annoyingly catchy theme bombarded the small living room.

"Every-days great at your Junes!"

Junes? That massive superstore chain? Was one here in Inaba?

"…At your Junes!"

Nanako sang along with the song, her face as happy as he had seen since he had met the diminutive girl. As she sung, he realised that he hadn't eaten anything but the toast Nanako had made. And since Dojima looked like he was going to be late, it seemed it was up to him. Rising, he headed to the kitchen fridge. Opening it, he was appalled at the state of it, it was practically empty, all it contained was some eggs, butter, milk and some out-of-date chicken which he instantly binned. It seemed a shopping trip was in order. He checked some of the cupboards, he frowned at the massive amount of instant heat noodles, and microwavable dishes, it seemed Dojima was an awful cook and Nanako was far too young to use an oven.

"What're you doing?"

He froze for a second before recognising Nanako's voice, he turned to see her at the counter, sat down on one of the seats, her eyes staring inquisitively at him.

"Since Dojima isn't here, I thought I could cook us all some food, but it seems that's there isn't a lot of options. We'll have to go shopping soon."

Nanako's eyes lit up.

"Ca-Can we go Junes!?"

So, there was one in Inaba, that couldn't be good for local businesses. He was also taken aback by the outright excitement Nanako showed at the prospect of going Junes.

"We'll have to ask your dad, but I don't see why not, I need someone to push the cart after all." He gave a mischievous smirk at his younger cousin as she practically exploded with happiness, smacking her hands against the counter, sporadically singing the Junes song.

He was sure that wouldn't get annoying. He was sure…

He was full of shit.

"Now, what do you think about Ramen for tea?"

"Ramen? Really? You can cook?"

He wasn't sure that question was because of his disability or because he was a guy, either way, she was too young and innocent to get annoyed at.

"I can indeed Nanako, cooking is one of my favourite things to do!"

"That's so cool! And you think you can make Ramen?"

"I should be able to, the eggs are in date, we can use the instant-noodles and I saw some ingredients for the broth in one of the cupboards."

"Wait… we?"

He turned towards her, and smiled, something he hadn't done in a while before he came to Inaba, and he had only been here for just over 24 hours at this point.

Maybe this place would be good for him after all?

"Of-course we! A chef must have a sous-chef after all!" he waved her over, amused as she skipped over, singing out sous-chef again and again. She paused when she reached him.

"What's a sous-chef?"

"My second-in-command! A very important job!"

He didn't think it was possible, but her eyes grew even wider, her cuteness evolving to a whole new level, it was almost too much.

"Now, wash your hands and roll up your sleeves, my sous-chef needs to be ready!"

She nodded happily as she rushed to the sink, just managing to reach the tap and washed her hands, he mused at this, looking around he found one of the counter stools and placed it next to him, she would be able to stand on there and help him. She returned, sleeves rolled, smile present, he patted the stool and helped her climb it, one on it, she began pointing out where everything was in the kitchen, taking her job-title very seriously, thus amusing him greatly. He was amazed at her, just yesterday she was the shyest person he had ever met, but only 24 hours later and she was practically bouncing around the house, she acted like she had never done something like this before.

He stalled, was that the case? From what his mum told him, Dojima's wife died a few years ago, Nanako could probably barely remember her, and Dojima must be out a lot if what she said was true. He felt sorry for this young girl, here he was annoyed at coming here, barely being able to wait to go home, feeling sorry for himself… and he never realised that maybe Nanako was suffering too, huh. He glanced at his phone which he placed at the counter.

 _359_

He didn't have time to mope about, he was going to make the best of his time here. And as he watched Nanako rip open a few packets of instant noodles and placed this in a large bowl, her tongue poking from her mouth in concentration. Laughing he filled the kettle full of water and turned it to boil. Maybe he'd enjoy it here after all and as he watched Nanako's excited eyes as he placed the eggs into a pan of boiling water, he made a small pledge to himself. He was going to enjoy his time, after all…

You have to live like we're dying.

 **Chapter end**

 **Don't know if this will get any traffic, it's a bit of weird Persona 4 story premise after-all, but I felt I needed to write this, I wanna present the story of Persona 4 through the same main character with a huge change to his life. I wanted to write an emotional and yet hopeful story and hopefully this first chapter shows enough of both! Please let me know what you all think, I really hope you enjoyed it! Even if you thought it had issues, please let me know your criticisms, as this is my first big story I'm writing, I want to know if I'm off to a decent start and if not, what I can do to do better.**

 **I thank-you for reading, have a good day.**

 **And remember to live like you're dying!**


	2. 2: What would you wish for?

**Live like We're Dying**

 **A/N:** **So, I know that this story has a very, very bizarre premise, but I hope if you're reading this chapter, then I hope you really enjoy this story, as I extremely enjoy writing this story and thinking about it. Don't worry if you feel the chapters may be going a little slow, as the first 3 or four chapters are mainly for beginning the story, and after that, the story will pick up so to speak.**

 **Ulrich362:** **I thank you for my first review for my first 'big' story on this site, I'm really glad it piqued your interest, and I hope this chapter continues to do so!**

 **Humbleware:** **Thanks for the tip for splitting scenes up, I changed it to -_-_-_- hopefully that is less distracting then {line-break}.**

 **Chapter 2: What would you wish for?**

He startled awake, sweat dripping down his face, he held himself with his good arm, allowing his body to calm down, he was here, he was here.

He was alive.

His breathing began to slow, it begging to realise it was all dream that scared him. No…

It was a nightmare, through and through, just a pointless nightmare, but what was the nightmare? He couldn't recall, how could something that frightened him so much, be forgotten the second he woke? He shook his head, dreams were weird like that he accepted. He grabbed his phone, unplugging it from its charger, what was the time?

 _06:24am_

 _358_

He pointedly ignored the lower number and groaned at the time, he could've have at least another thirty minutes! But he wasn't getting back to sleep anytime soon, that nightmare had scared his mind fully awake. He looked himself over, his eyes tracing the vicious looking surgical scars that practically enveloped his right side, some of them were quick and short incisions, some travelled the entire length of his arm and right leg, bile rose in his throat, he looked and felt like Frankenstein's monster, he hated it, he hated how his arm had so many surgical scars on it, that it had begun to atrophy from all of the damage, it was slightly smaller and thinner than his usable are, and it wouldn't get any better, he hated how his leg was almost no better, with multiple leg-length surgical scars littering it, he hated the right side of his chest and waist looked like someone had gone hog-wild with a machete on it, he hated how the right side of his stomach and chest was sunken in deeper than his left side, the constant surgery permanently altering his body's proportions. He _HATED_ it.

Hated it all.

He could only be thankful surgery wasn't needed for his neck or head.

He didn't want to think about what'd he would have done to himself if that'd happened. He also noticed that the bruising from being pushed yesterday hadn't settled at all, in-fact it looked worse than yesterday, but he couldn't tell if it was serious or not, his nerve endings damaged beyond repair preventing him from knowing. He needed to apply his cream today, he had to make sure his body worked. But first, his nostrils were assaulted with an unpleasant smell. It was him, he hadn't washed for an almost three days at this point. You couldn't really blame him though, he did have bigger things to worry about.

He pushed himself to his feet and carefully crept to his door, placing his school uniform over his shoulder and clutched his medical ointment, making sure to tighten the strap of his boxers around his waist, he was _NOT_ going to have an encounter like _THAT_ anytime soon. He also had to make sure Nanako didn't see him like this, she'd be scarred for life, the poor girl had enough issues, her older cousins broken body didn't need to be added to it. He cracked open the door and peeked through, no lights were on, the coast was clear it seemed. He made sure to keep one eye on his numb leg, he would not be tripping up right now.

He made it to the bathroom with no incident, he opened it up and locked the door behind him, even with one hand, he had managed all of this, he felt rather full of himself at that, it was the small victories that mattered.

He had already lost the biggest fight, all he could do now was pile up the small ones.

He stripped off his boxers and stepped into the bath/shower combination, he then realised the biggest issue.

He wouldn't be able to have a shower, there were no stabiliser handles, nothing to hold onto as he let the water fall upon him. He couldn't trust his numb leg to stay rooted to the slippery surface as e showered. A bath it was then.

Turning the required taps, he waited for enough water to rise before he carefully submerged himself into it. His bathing process changed massively after his accident, he had to extra careful when tending to his right side, some of the most recent surgeries still held stitches and he couldn't risk pulling them out, he recalled that he had to go to the local medical facility next week to have the last stitches pulled out, and for the doctors to give him anymore corrective surgery options. He wasn't sure he'd accept a new surgery attempt, his last one had made 72 if he remembered correctly and whilst they had made some improvement to his breathing and walking, they left him feeling less human, they made him feel like a freak.

After finishing his bath, he drained the tub and made his way out of it, almost slipping on his bad leg. Once he dried off, he sat down and grabbed his medical ointment, it was a muscle soother, as he couldn't feel if his body was in pain, he had to constantly rub the ointment into his skin and subsequently his muscles, it was essentially the same as keeping a car up to stuff, making sure everyone worked as best as it could. If he could summarise it, he'd say it turned him from broken at worst to simply damaged at best. After applying the cream, he dressed himself, muttering curses as his arm got caught in the sleeve, but he managed as always.

He returned to his room, taking note of the lights downstairs being switched on, must've been Dojima, Nanako should still be asleep, at least he hoped, kids her age needed as much sleep as possible.

The thought of Nanako brought an unintentional smile to his face, they had made Ramen, specifically egg ramen, as they had no meats to mix in. She had said it was the best thing ever, and thanked him with a hug for the great meal he cooked, he reminded her that without his sous-chef he wouldn't have been able to make it, she blushed at that and tried to hide her face. They had made one for Dojima and wrapped it up in cling-film to keep any flies anyway, he hoped he got it, both he and Nanako went to bed before he came home.

If he came home at all, it wasn't unheard of for people to sleep at work if it was urgent enough.

A murder in such a small town would probably be considered 'urgent' now that he thought about it. He shrugged, none of his business what his uncle does, he's a capable adult.

He re-entered his room and checked the time on his phone.

 _06:58AM_

 _358_

He was making good time, he enough time to have a breakfast and then walk with Nanako to their schools. He pocketed his phone, and grabbed his pills off his desk and pocketed them, not before shaking them to assess how many he had. A fair amount it sounded like, should last him for a couple of months if he was lucky and didn't have any bad episodes. He'd have to ask about his next shipment when he went to the hospital.

He grabbed his satchel, slinging over his good shoulder and exited his room and descended the stairs.

"Good morning Nanako!" so it was Nanako who was up, just how mature was she? If he wasn't seeing it for himself, he wouldn't believe it. But here the adolescent was, standing on top of a kitchen stool, placing bread into a toaster, she had to step on her tip toes just to reach the toaster slots. Nanako jumped at his voice, and the stool began to tilt worryingly, a cry escaped her mouth as she began to fall. He moved as fast as he could, ignoring his bad leg when it crashed into the counter, he simply kept moving, his good arm shooting out and grasping the small girl within his arm, pulling her back as the stool hit the ground with a loud smack. Then, silence.

Whimpers filled the quiet room, as the small girl within his arm began to shake slightly, obviously realising what she had just avoided. He felt guilty, he had startled her unintentionally, he was just thankful he had managed to grab her in time, a second too late and who knows…

He gently lowered the whimpering girl to the floor, he kneeled next to her, turning her to face him, her eyes had a few stray tears dripping from her wide eyes.

"Hey, hey, it's okay! You're okay see?" His voice was gentle and caring, something he hadn't done for months now. Nanako nodded slowly, her whimpers transforming into quiet sniffles.

"Shh. Shh… it's okay Nanako, you're a brave girl, I've only known you for two days at most! And I can already tell you're a brave girl okay? So, c'mon, give me a smile, give me a brave smile!" He gently patted her head, and rubbed it in what he hoped was a comforting motion. It seemed lady luck was on his side as Nanako, shortly after his patting gave him a small, shy smile. He smiled back at her.

"There we are! There's brave little Nanako, now c'mon, take a seat at the counter, I'll get the toast!" She nodded as she smiled, heading to the other stool and climb upon it.

He picked up the fallen stool, placing it next to Nanako's, and retrieved the toast which had popped from the toaster a few moments ago.

The rest of the morning was thankfully uneventful, just how he liked them to be, they ate their toasts, he noticed that the bowl of ramen left for Dojima last night was gone, hopefully he liked it.

He'd have to ask the next time he saw him.

The pair of cousins walked together again, Nanako splitting down a different road as he continued. His walk was slow and calming after the rather hectic toaster issue. Just what he needed. Peace and quiet as he walked.

"LOOK OUT!"

And the world just wants to bend him over and fu… he's flying again, manoeuvring his body again, he is crashing into the ground again.

He's really, angry again.

"Aww… dude, I'm so sorry, it's my bike, someone smashed the pedal yesterday and I fixed it, or at least tried to fix it… I'm so sorry!"

This was karma, plain and simple.

He broke his bike; the bike breaks him.

Life was a cycle like that, that's why it sucked!

He pushed himself up, this was fine, everything was fine.

He debated just walking onwards like yesterday, but he assumed everything would just happen the same-way tomorrow.

Cause he was definitely breaking that damn bike again.

He turned to his unintentional attacker, unsure if he wanted to punch him or accept his honest apology.

Maybe both.

"Dude, I am SO, SO sorry, are you okay!?" He was right, it was the same boy from yesterday, he recovered from Chie's critical ball strike apparently.

"I'm fine, nothing's broken…" He dusted himself off, ignoring the look of recognition the boy was having.

"You're the new kid, Narukami-san right?"

Go away.

"That's right, also bike nemesis according to my track record."

"Wait…"

There it is.

"You're that guy from yesterday!"

He got it! Cue grovelling.

"Oh dude, I am so sorry for yesterday, I had a rough morning and I wasn't paying attention and I…"

The teen began to ramble, his words becoming incomprehensible. He would've called it funny, I he wasn't going to be late.

"Buy me dinner."

"Wha…"

"To make up for both hits, buy me dinner after school."

The teen looks unsure for a moment before sighing, a defeated smile crawling onto his face.

"Yeah sure, that sounds fair, I'm Yosuke by the way, Yosuke Hanamura!" He outstretched his right hand out for a shake, Yu just gave him a 'are you serious' look, as he motioned to his useless limp arm. Yosuke for his part had the decency to scratch the back of his head in embarrassment.

"Sorry 'bout that hehe… I'm a bit of an idiot ain't I?"

You are.

Yosuke checks his digital watch.

"Oh crap! We're gonna be late! C'mon hop on the back of my bike and we'll make it if we hurry!"

Hell no! He already had a date of death, he didn't want to push that forward!

"I'm good, I'll continue to walk."

Yosuke jumped on his poor excuse of a bike and looked at his curiously.

"You sure man? You'll be late for sure!"

He nodded, a sent a reassuring smile towards the bike riding individual.

"I was already late for my first day yesterday, what's my second day?"

Yosuke, still looking quite unsure about what to do nods, then slowly begins to pedal away. He looks back over his shoulder and waves.

"I'll try to make something up for 'King Moron'! Just try not to be too late!" And with that his feet peddled faster, trying to make it to school before first bell, Yu for his part simply nodded back, kind of unsure on how to feel about Yosuke, he had run him over twice now, but he honestly seemed like a nice guy, a nice guy who was a bit of an idiot, but nice all the same, and sometimes being nice was a rare trait to find in someone. He glances down at his right side, hopefully the bruises from yesterday wouldn't be worse from his second fall, but knowing his luck, they'd probably be even worse than yesterdays. He'd have to check them in the bathroom again, thankfully he put the ointment on, that would hopefully soak up some of the stress and damage his body just went through.

He began the rest of his trek to school, if he was lucky he'd be able to make it before the end of his first class.

Who knows, the morning may have sucked but perhaps the rest of the day would be smooth sailing.

He was wrong, it still sucked.

He had checked over his body again and found that yes, the bruises were still there, and they were even worse, and one of his stitches had come lose even. Thankfully he had managed to re-tighten it, which involved teeth and his good hand. He had to crane his neck like a contortionist, but he had somehow managed. Thank the lord for small miracles. Sadly, that was the last miracle to happen that morning.

It turned out that Yosuke's excuse had something to do with a cat stuck in a tree or something? He only sighed as he looked at Yosuke and just shook his head, Yosuke for his part managed to mouth out a remorseful sorry as King Moron laid into him, screeching about young punks who thought they could do whatever he wanted. Or at least he assumed it was something like that, he had honestly stopped listening shortly after he began his tirade. He knew that the poor excuse of a teacher couldn't punish him for being late, as the school had his medical records, he was allowed a certain amount of leeway when it came to getting to school. It was literally one of the very small few benefits his condition gave him.

They weren't worth the cost.

After that he had gone to his seat, sending Chie and Yukiko polite nods, as he sat he heard Yosuke whisper his apology, it wasn't that big of a problem, it just showed that the fellow teen was awful at telling lies, something to keep in mind in the future. Class went on as expected, boring, slow and irritating from Moron's constant abusive tangents.

Lunch break couldn't come any-quicker.

"Late again Narukami-san! It's almost like you live for King-Moron's abuse." When break arrived, Chie pulled a seat up to the other side of his desk, laying her lunch out onto it, Yukiko had joined as well, although she seemed to only be there because Chie was there. Yu unpacked his own lunch he bought from the cafeteria, it was supposedly a sandwich, although it looked crap, smelt crap and tasted like crap.

Guess he was making his own lunches from now on.

"Yeah, I just love having an adult screech at me like a four-year-old not getting enough attention, it starts my day of great." His sarcastic reply brought a laugh from Chie's mouth and a stifled giggle from Yukiko's.

"Good to know! I'll make sure to try it sometime." He smiled at Chie's reply, she genuinely seemed to want to know him, not just ask about his disabilities, she hadn't even taken a quick glance at his arm that hung loosely on the desk. Yukiko on the other hand, she was doing everything in her power to not look at him, but he didn't think it was because she thought he was disgusting or anything like that, he believed that he simply made her uncomfortable to be around. He could understand that, he could! It didn't mean he had to like it or accept it, he wasn't some freak that deserved to be avoided at all costs. Well that was what the optimist in him said and that side of him had been effectively curb-stomped into oblivion, leaving nothing but optimist brain goo all over the pessimistic curb.

…

…

…

That metaphor got away from him there. He decided to continue the conversation, it was the polite thing to do.

"By the way, what do we have next?"

"What, did you not get a timetable?"

"I did, I just haven't been bothered to check it yet."

Chie snorted, "it seems like not being bothered is a running theme for you!"

She had no idea.

He hoped next lesson was something interesting, perhaps English? Or Maths? Maybe even History?

"Let's see here… it's P.E, awesome!"

You had to be kidding, was the world purposely messing with him now? He could barely walk to school without being winded, any kind of sport would kick the hell out of him, wait, wait, positive thinking, it could be sports he'd be able to compete in right?

"FOOTBALL IS THIS LINE, BASKET-BALL IS THE OTHER".

Well shit.

After the obvious conversation with the P.E teacher, he was excused from the class and free to simply wait until the class was over, he asked whether the school had a gym, to which the teacher said they did and that he was free to use it for P.E periods from now on, so he found himself within the dingy school gym walking slowly on a treadmill, a huge amount of sweat building up on his forehead, he had only been walking at a slow pace for about ten minutes and he was already feeling his energy leaving him, between making sure his right leg stayed on course, his right lung being practically useless, and keeping the slow pace the treadmill demanded, he'd exhausted after another 10 minutes, 15 tops. It was so frustrating, before the accident, he'd take walks that could last for hours, just to think and have some peace and quiet. Now he couldn't walk farther then the school in Inaba otherwise he'd be too tired to make it back. He clenched his fist, his eyes staring holes into the treadmills difficulty buttons.

It was torture, it left him utterly defeated.

His eyes continued to stare at the buttons.

Without warning, his finger slammed against the increase speed button, watching as the levels ticked by, until it went from 2 to 8, he stopped then and prepared for the treadmill beneath to speed up, he could do this. He'd show them! The treads sped up, his legs kept up, the treads continued to speed up, his legs kept up still, the treads sped even faster, his bad leg hit the treads at an awkward angle, he slipped, his right side smacked against the running treads and he was thrown off, smashing into the small padded barrier behind, his breath escaping his lung at the impact. He curled up into a ball as he tried to regain his breath, shaking as he stayed there, he felt something wet hit his cheeks, he wasn't crying.

He didn't have time to cry.

His breathing returned to him, his shaking stopped and he pushed himself up into a sitting position, his back leaning against the padded barrier behind him. He wiped his eyes with his sleeve, pointedly ignoring the tear stains on his sleeve. His eyes checked the wall-clock, P.E was wrapping up soon, good, he wanted to leave this place, he picked himself up, turning off the running treadmill, glaring at it. He walked out to change in the bathrooms privately. As he made it to the door, his chanced a glance back at the treadmill, he scoffed and passed through the doorway.

He was foolish to think he could do it.

He was foolish to think he wasn't useless.

As he changed in private, he found more bruises, this time on his left side as well, but even more on his right side, he looked like an abuse victim, his body practically covered in new bruises, the doctor was not going to be happy when he went for his check-up next week, these kinds of bruises were not going to heal before then.

God, he was a mess. What was it, day 3? And this was what he looked like? God forbid what he'd look like in a few months.

Now dressed and sufficiently calm, he returned to the class, as everyone else began to filter in. He nodded at Chie, Yukiko and Yosuke before returning to his notes, trying to translate what he had written this morning, it looked like a spider had crawled across his page, his writing was barely legible. He sighed, he'd just carry on and figure out a solution later, the next teacher entered and began their lesson, he just sat back and listened, ultimately forgoing writing now. He just wanted the day to end at this point.

The last lesson ended and he breathed a sigh of relief, why did he even agree to go to school anymore? He was packing up his belongings when he felt a hand pat him on his good shoulder, he winched as one of his bruises were touched and turned around to see Yosuke, a goofy smile on his face.

"Hey, you wanna get that food now?"

Wait, Yosuke was being serious when he agreed, Yu just made the off-handed comment as a joke, but the blond-haired teen was willing to buy him lunch. He must have really been feeling guilty for knocking him over twice, his opinion of Yosuke grew slightly at this.

"Yeah, sounds good, got any ideas?"

"I know just the place, it's got these amazing steaks, like the best in the world!"

His interest was piqued.

"That sounds pretty good, whereabouts is it?"

Yosuke was about to answer when suddenly, a certain bowl-shaped haired girl barged into the conversation.

"Hey! Why are you buying him food? You should be buying me steak after breaking my DVD!"

Trust something to interrupt when he was just gonna catch a break today.

"It's because I hit with my bike twice! I wanna apologise and make sure he's okay!"

Chie gasps as she looks to Yu and back to Yosuke.

"How the hell did you hit him _TWICE?"_

Yosuke then proceeded to try and explain how he had managed to hit the same person twice in the span of two days, suffice to say his reasoning wasn't that great.

He inwardly groaned, as he watched the pair bicker back and forth like a married couple, he just wanted to get the damn food, he didn't care how or why! And watching the pair skirt around the fact that they were obviously interested in each other was draining what precious will to live he had left.

This wasn't steak.

"Ugh! I can't believe you brought us to your place to eat! This isn't steak!"

Indeed, it was not Chie.

"Well, I was gonna, but them some moron butted into the deal and I was forced to downgrade the food!"

What even was this? Meat on a stick? It didn't look like it.

"Hey! Don't blame me for the mistake you make Yosuke! You're the idiot who broke my DVD and ran over Yu!"

It tasted bland.

"I didn't 'run him over'! I just hit him with my bike on accident! Get off your high horse, you deprived him of his steak!"

It was shit.

"Don't try pinning this on me now! It's all your fault!"

"I wanted steak…"

The pair of teens stopped arguing to see Yu, staring dejectedly at his meat on a stick, a single bite being taken from it. An awkward silence befell the table they were sat at, until Chie coughed into her hand.

"Oh yea, you're probably wondering why I said this was his place right?"

Not really, but go on.

Chie ignored his uninterested look and continued.

"Well, Yosuke's dad is this Junes's branch director, and Yosuke works here part-time".

It just occurred to him that he was in Junes, Nanako was going to be so jealous, he inwardly smirked at the thought of teasing her about the fact he went without her.

"It's not 'my place' Chie, my dad just happens to be very high up here, it doesn't mean I'm loaded or anything!"

He could tell that, because if he was, they'd be having steak right now.

He was interrupted from his musings when Chie spoke.

"Hey, you guys heard of the Midnight channel?"

No, it sounds like a rumour passed by superstitious children.

"Oh, you mean that dumb thing where your TV turns on at midnight or something right? Didn't see you as superstitious."

Yosuke with the logic, something he smarmily presumed he would think often.

Chie bristled "shut-up and listen! Apparently if you unplug your Tv at Midnight and wait, the screen will turn on and show your true love, it's what some of the girls were saying in class today!"

That sounded like absolute rubbish.

"That sounds like absolute rubbish!"

Whoa Yosuke! Was he reading his mind now?

"Shut-up! I just heard about it okay! I just thought it'd be interesting ya know?"

No, I don't know.

"No, I don't…

"Okay! Enough of that!"

Yu butted in before Yosuke could once again unintentionally read his mind.

He was about to suggest another topic, anything to stop the constant bickering when another voice broke through the air.

"Hey Hana-chan! How's it going?"

He turned to see a blond-haired girl stroll towards the group, a tired look in her eyes, Yosuke immediately jumped from his seat and moved towards the teen.

"Sa-Saki-senpai! Good to see you, how're you?" Yosuke words were nervous but caring and Yu's brows raised.

That boy had it bad for this 'Saki', surprising because he would've put money on Yosuke and Chie liking each other, oh well, he had been wrong before, what's one more time?

Saki straight up ignored Yosuke's question and headed towards Yu, a mischievous glint in her eyes, he wasn't a fan of that look.

"Oh hey! You must be the transfer student, right? It's so nice that Hana-chan's making friends now, he's usually on his lonesome."

Oh, he did not like this girl one bit.

"H-hey c'mon Senpai, you don't have to be so mean ya-know?" Yosuke semi-pleaded as his smiled began to drop slightly, the sting from Saki's words hitting deep. However, Saki simply ignored Yosuke once again "he's a bit of an idiot, and can be annoying, so if he is, just let him know okay?" 'Saki' smiled, it was fake though, just like how her apparent 'care' for Yosuke was fake.

"C'mon Senpai, why you gotta wound me so?" Yosuke's voice may have held a jokey tone, but he could easily tell that he was genuinely hurt by what she had said.

He really hated this girl.

One again Saki just ignored Yosuke's pleading, and moved around so that she was facing all three of the group.

"Don't you think so as well new kid?"

Silence hung in the air as 'Saki' directed her question at Yu, Chie sending a smouldering glare towards the other girl, whilst Yosuke's face looked defeated. He looked defeated because he assumed that he'd agree with Saki, the lack of self-confidence Yosuke had in himself annoyed him, no-one should think so badly of themselves.

He felt like a hypocrite for thinking that.

"Hey! You can't just ask a question like that!" Chie argued, not wanting Yu to be placed in such an awkward situation. And whilst the help was appreciated, it was unneeded.

"No, I don't think so."

Everyone stopped at Yu's short answer, Yosuke's face practically lit up when Yu spoke. Saki's eyes' narrowed.

"What're yo…"

"I don't think Hanamura-san is an idiot, I think he's a kind individual" he lied, he did think Yosuke was an idiot, but also kind, but he wanted to show this girl up.

"D-dude!"

He stood up, his eyes baring straight into 'Saki's', he hated this type of person, the type of person who manipulated and used other, more naïve individuals for their own gain, he hated these types of people.

Because they reminded him of himself.

"I'll tell you what I think about you instead, sound good?"

Chie walked around the table, to his side, a worried look on her face, Yosuke's face was unreadable, Saki's on the other-hand was now glaring back at him.

"I think that you're an awful person to just come over here, and to tell me to my face, that my new friend is a loser… I think I don't want anything to do with you, I think you should get out of my face".

Saki's eyes widened in rage as he finished speaking, her mouth opening in shock, her mind worked to think of a response, but in the end, she simply stormed off, barging past Yosuke on her way out. Yu watched her leave, the returned to his seat, his hand coming up to cover his face as he groaned.

What had he just done? His eyes just saw red and she just set him off. He'd be beating himself up about that later.

He felt a hand on his shoulder, he didn't want to look, he really didn't, but he had to. Looking up, he saw Yosuke's smiling face.

"Thanks dude… really, I mean… you didn't have to be so harsh to Saki-Senpai, but thanks for standing up for me!" Yu looked from Yosuke to Chie, who also was giving him a smile. He was confused, why were the smiling at him? He could perhaps understand Chie smiling but Yosuke? He said he stood up for him, but that was only secondary to his aims, he wanted to insult that girl.

He lowered his hand and nodded at the pair, he then took a curious glance at a nearby by clock for the time.

"It's getting pretty late, how about we call it?" Yu's question was innocent enough, they wouldn't know he just wanted to be rid of these two for the moment, he needed to be alone and think.

Both Chie and Yosuke agreed and parted ways, Yosuke promising Yu steak sometime in the future, to which he smiled appreciatively.

As he walked back to Dojima's he regretted cutting their gathering short, but after 'Saki' he needed to be alone and think, he didn't want to be so rude to the girl, she probably had her own issues, he had no right to be like that. Why had he done that? He'd never usually be so quick to anger, his eyes glanced at his limp arm, then it clicked together. He just wanted to let of some steam he built up from that damned treadmill. Saki was just the unfortunate soul who suffered his wrath. It was stupid of him, he knew that.

He just didn't care.

He was bothered about the words he said to the girl, but he didn't care why he said them.

And that worried him to be honest.

He passed by the gas station, on the last stretch to his residence, but he needed a break, needed to catch his breath, he found the same bench from last night and lowered himself onto it, the sky was beginning to darken now, he had to get back soon, Nanako was most likely by herself if Dojima's track-record for being home would continue.

"Hey there Senpai!"

His eyes found the source of the voice and a smile found its way onto his face.

"Hello Kanji-san! Senpai is it now?"

The punkish looking teen flushed at the question, sitting down next to him, "yeah it is, you go to the same school as me, you're a year older, so you're my senpai, simple as that… n-no reason to talk 'bout it!" Yu chuckled at Kanji's nervousness, "if you say so Kanji-san, if you say so…".

"I looked for you in school today Kanji-san, couldn't find you, did you not come in today?"

Kanji didn't say anything for a moment and he thought for a second that he had overstepped the line.

"I was gonna, I was I swear, but well…"

"You don't have to say anything Kanji-san, I was just curious, I wanted to talk to my new friend." Kanji's head turned to him, "wh-what?" Yu turned to him, he liked Kanji, he was simple to talk to, no fuss.

"We are friends, right?"

"Y-yeah! Of-course senpai!"

He smiled, "good to know Kanji-san, sorry, but I have to get home, Nanako is probably wondering where I am" he stood up and began to head home, he stopped after a few feet, "I'll talk to you later right?" Kanji's voice broke for a second, obviously trying to hide his true feelings of Yu being his friend.

"Ye-Yeah, damn right Yu-senpai, talk to ya later!"

They bid each-other a good-night and headed their ways home.

"Welcome home!" Nanako greeted him as he entered the house, a smile on her adorable face, he smiled back, but his smile was mischievous as he sat on the couch.

"Hello Nanako, guess where I've been today!"

Nanako pondered for a moment, her finger on her chin, most likely imitating what she thought her dad would do when pondering a case.

"School?"

"That's right, but I went somewhere after school, somewhere pretty cool!"

Nanako pondered again, her eyes scrunching up in thought, he almost laughed at just how expressive she was.

"I- I don't know…"

"I'll give you a hint, you could say that every day starts at this place", he couldn't hide his smirk anymore as Nanako's eyes revealed her thoughts, she pouted as her big eyes glared cutely at him.

"You went to Junes without me!"

He couldn't help it, he began to laugh, her face was just far too cute to take seriously. She hmphed at him and turned her back to him, crossing her arms. It was just too much!

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry Nanako, I didn't plan on going, but some people I met wanted to get something to eat and they took me there, I'm really sorry, will you ever forgive me?" he jokingly pleaded with the young girl, trying to see her face, but she turned away from him every-time, but he managed to catch a small smile trying to force its way onto her face.

"Hmm… I guess if you won't forgive me, I can't take you to Junes this weekend, can I? What a shame, guess I'll just go by myself then…"

Immediately Nanako jumped at him, grabbing his good arm.

"No, no, I forgive you, can I please still come, please, please, please!"

He looked away, hiding his massive smile.

"Hmm… I don't know…"

Nanako shook his arm harder.

"That's not fair! Please!"

He turned back to her.

"Hmm… okay then!"

Nanako threw her arms into the air, a happy squeal escaping her mouth, then she wrapped her arms around his waist, hugging him.

He stalled in shock at the sudden hug.

He hadn't been hugged since he just got out of the hospital, his parents always afraid he might break if he was touched even a little. And yet here was this tiny child, hugging him just after knowing him for at most three days, he didn't know how to react, so he just stood there stock-still. Nanako let go and sent him another smile before returning to the Tv. He simply continued to sit on the couch as he watched the ecstatic girl bob her head back and forth, presumably to the tune of a certain commercial song. He felt uncomfortable, not necessarily in aa bad way, but just… uncomfortable, he needed sometime to himself, but first…

"What should we make for tea tonight Nanako?"

He laid himself onto his bed, a relaxing sigh escaping his mouth, they had finished making tea a while ago, they had eaten together and then he had ushered the young girl to bed, it was getting late and he didn't want himself or Nanako to get shouted at by Dojima for her staying up past her bed-time, although he still wasn't sure when her bedtime even was, he hadn't asked, and to be fair he hadn't seen Dojima in almost 2 whole days, work must've been bearing down on him. He checked the time on his phone.

 _11:55_

 _358_

… _Midnight hour…_

His eyes widened, he glanced at his small box Tv, it was unplugged when he got here and he hadn't bothered to plug it in yet, so at least that part was complete.

Wait, was he going to test this stupid ghost story?

 _11:58_

 _358_

He guessed he was. He got out of his bed sat down in-front of his tv, this was so dumb, he couldn't actually believe he was doing this!

 _11:59_

 _358_

He glanced at his window, he had closed the curtains when he entered, it was a small chance but he didn't want anyone to be able to see him stare at a blank tv like a moron.

 _12:00_

 _357_

Well, looked like the story was rubbish, just like he knew it would be.

Suddenly the tv sparked on, static filling the screen, he jumped back in shock, what the hell? He could see the plug of the tv on the ground, not connected, how was his Tv on?

… _If you look at it, you're supposed to see your true love…_

Damn Chie, he was actually doing this!

He leaned closer and could make out a figure, he couldn't tell who it was besides it was female, she looked… she looked in pain, she was writhing about, he didn't like it, not one bit, this was supposed to be his true love? It looked like she was barely hanging on right now. He needed to take a closer look. He reached forward and paced his hand against the screen to move closer, how surprised was he when his hand slipped through the screen itself. Immediately he yanked it back, his breathing ragged and scared, was he high? He didn't fee high. He stared at his hand and back at the Tv, if his hand could slip through, maybe other parts could? He moved back to the tv and gently placed his head against it, his body shook as he felt his head slip through the screen, he brought his good arm through and looked around, he couldn't make anything out, it was too foggy, he was about to pull out when he felt something grab his arm. He looked and couldn't see anything, but his arm was definitely being pulled on, he was being dragged into the TV! He pulled against the invisible force, but his good arm was already grabbed, he couldn't grab onto to anything to stop himself, his good leg slammed against the ground in his room, in a futile attempt to root himself, he hoped his right leg was doing the same but he couldn't tell! He was being pulled in! He couldn't stop it! He thrashed about wildly, almost half his body was pulled in at this point.

He was going to die, he was going to die!

The force gave one final pull and he found himself falling through the foggy air. He couldn't even scream, his absolute terror overwhelming him. All he could manage was to close his panicking eyes and wait for the end, who knows, it may be quick and painless?

He waited for a few seconds, and then waited some-more, he chanced a quick glance, the fact he did so meant he was still alive. Wasn't he falling? He wasn't, he felt ground underneath his prone form. Was it just that foggy that he couldn't even see the ground? He tentatively pushed himself up onto his feet, his eyes scanning his surroundings, he couldn't make out a damn thing!

He stalled.

His eyes may have been useless, but his ears worked perfectly, and he definitely heard something growl just then. His eyes moved towards the sound, they could barely make out something round coming towards him, he waited with baited breath, should he run? There was no point, he still wasn't any good at running, he'd trip and fall instantly. Hide? Where? He couldn't _SEE_ anything to hide behind!

He heard another growl, and another, and another, he couldn't tell how many threatening growls he had heard now.

He was so dead.

His body swivelled, the round forms were all around him now, he still couldn't make anything out about them, but they seemed so close, the growling was overbearing now, he was going to die! He crouched down and curled into a ball, his good arm placed over his head as he struggled to breath. Tears fell from his eyes as he began to accept his incoming doom, the growling growing ever closer now, he wanted to close his eyes, he wanted to close his eyes and wish it all away, but he couldn't! All he could do was stare at the ground, fear gripping his damaged heart.

He didn't want to die right now!

 _ **It seems fate has thrown yet another wildcard into your journey.**_

His eyes widened, he had heard that voice before.

 _ **However, we cannot have our fools journey end before it even began, can we?**_

Fool? Journey? What the hell was this voice on about!?

 _ **Tell me, do you wish for your journey to end here? For it to end before it began?**_

Of-course not! He had no idea what the voice was talking about, but obviously he didn't want to die here!

 _ **Then you know what you must do.**_

Wha… Suddenly a blue glowing butterfly floated in-front of his vision, it was beautiful, ephemeral almost. He watched it float away, past some of the round shadowy figures, until a blue glowing light appeared behind them.

An exit!

 _ **Stand up our fool.**_

He began to stand, he wasn't sure what was happening, but he felt confidence rush through his very soul.

 _ **Stand up and prove that fate does not hold you to its whim!**_

He stood, facing the glowing light that he just knew was an exit. He needed to make it there, and these shadowy things were not going to stop him.

" _ **I am thou".**_

He found himself raising his arm, unsure why, however, he doesn't stop it, his confidence pushed him forwards.

" _ **Thou art I".**_

If these things were in his way.

" _ **You have found within yourself the courage to fight".**_

Then his only option was simple in the end.

" _ **You have found the ability to seek the truth".**_

He opened his hand wide.

" _ **If you have found it within yourself to truly fight".**_

The fog began to disperse around him, almost like some invisible force was pushing it away from him.

" _ **Then call me forth and prove your will to seek the truth".**_

He smirked.

" _PERSONA!"_

A resounding crack broke through the very fabric of the world and all hell broke loose.

He walked forward, his gait confident, almost arrogant, he didn't know what was going, all he knew was as he walked, the shadowy figures were split in half as he passed them, he drew closer to the blue light, when one of the shadowy things sprang towards him.

It never made it close to him.

He knew something was behind him, he knew that he had brought forth something…

But he didn't even need to see it to know what it was strangely enough.

 _Izanagi._

This was the name of the power that defended him.

He continued onward, undeterred by the growing mass of attacking shadowy figures, there were more now.

They irritated him.

He pointed towards the mass directly between himself and the blue light, a thought appearing in his mind.

 _Zio._

Lightning crashed down from the heavens and smashed into the mass of shadows, obliterating them completely.

And thus, he continued onwards.

He felt good, he felt damn good, perhaps even better then he felt before the accident. He finally reached the blue light, it turned out to be an ethereal blue door, the butterfly from before fluttering around its form. He debated trying to open the door when he heard a vortex swirling behind him, it seemed those shadowy things were congesting themselves into an even bigger mass. He felt confident, not suicidal as he grabbed the handle to the door, and was annoyed to find it locked.

 _ **This key will allow you to return here when you wish to.**_

Key? What ke… He felt something in his hand, a small blue ethereal key, he should've questioned this heavily, but instead simply shrugged and unlocked the door, before he stepped into the blinding blueish light, he glanced over his shoulder, and he finally saw it.

 _Izanagi._

It was a very tall humanoid clad in armour and a long black coat, its deep yellow eyes were visible through a pair of slits, it wielded a large naginata in its left hand, and it stood, imposing over everything around it, one thing struck him however. Where it's right arm should've been was nothing but a billowing coat sleeve, he felt he should've been insulted but found that he didn't care now.

His eyes widened momentarily as one of the shadowy things snuck up on him, and he finally saw what it was, it was a ball with big red lips and a disgustingly large red tongue, with large teeth aligning its mouth. It rushed towards him, its lips smacking in anticipation, he wanted to scream wen suddenly he saw the figure known as _Izanagi_ appear in-front of his and cover him.

He felt his left shoulder erupt in pain as the creature's teeth crunched down onto _Izanagi's_ left shoulder.

It seemed himself and _Izanagi_ were connected. Yu shouted as _Izanagi_ shook off the creature, but before he could assess the situation, the creature was upon _Izanagi_ once more, its teeth clamping down onto _Izanagi's_ right shoulder at the stump. He waited for the incoming pain, and was surprised when he felt absolutely nothing. He glanced at his right side, and then back to _Izanagi_.

 _I am thou… Thou art I._ The words came back to him, his mind connecting the pieces.

His smirk returned, as he threw out his left arm in aggression, _Izanagi_ responded in turn and grabbed the ball creature with its left arm, yanking it off itself, it squirmed and thrashed about in its grasp, its long tongue swinging wildly. Yu, held his hand open, and then quickly clenched it, _Izanagi_ did the same, the creature being crushed mercilessly, black ichor splattering everywhere.

That… was… awesome.

 _Izanagi_ turned back to him, he nodded at the massive figure he knew as _Izanagi_ , the figure nodded back and dispersed into blue particles. He turned back to the blue light.

Persona eh?

He stepped into the blue light, ready for anything.

"Welcome to the velvet room…"

To be honest, he expected a lot of things…

But this was not one of them.

 **Chapter 2: What would you wish for?**

 **Finished**

Soooo… what did everyone think? Was it any-good? Did it entertain? Did it perhaps pique your interest? I hope so, as I enjoyed writing this chapter very much. Please let me know what you all think.


	3. 3: Sometimes you Fall down

**Live like We're Dying**

 **A/N: I am so sorry about the lateness of this chapter, but sadly work has been kicking my ass recently and I barely found myself with time enough to write, hopefully this chapter is still enjoyable though! The next chapter will hopefully be released much sooner than this one took, because after this chapter we're really kicking it into high gear!**

 **A/N: Also, I've been thinking of beginning an Attack on Titan story, not sure what kind of story, I have a few ideas lined up in my head, and I'm wondering if there would be any interest in such a thing? Lemme know in the comments if possible!**

 **Chapter 3: Sometimes we fall down**

He shot up from his bed, his eyes wide and fearful, in an extreme panic he scans his current location, he was back in his bedroom? He was even back in his bed… how could that be? He closes his eyes and places his palm against his face, he couldn't remember anything… wait, that was a lie, he could recall something…

 _ **Wild-card… fool… Seek the truth… Persona…**_

 _ **Izanagi…**_

His hand dropped as his eyes gaped open, that was right! He fell into his TV and awoke something called a persona… or… that's at least what that Igor fellow from that room told him.

" _ **Welcome to the velvet room".**_

Velvet room? What was that place? His eyes moved towards his TV, still unplugged on his desk, he checked the time on his phone.

 _5:25am_

 _357_

How was this possible!? How did he… His eyes glances back at the TV, he needed to see if it was all true, he just needed to, he needed to know he wasn't totally insane, he moved over to the desk, sweat dripping down his brow in fearful anticipation, he carefully raises his left hand and places it gently against the TV screen, his brows shoot up into his hairline when his hand, just like before slips through, into the TV, creating a kind of ripple effect around where his hand entered. He pulled it back, remembering what happened last time.

So, it wasn't just some lucid dream… honestly, he couldn't tell which would have been better, because if the TV thing was real, then that meant those… creatures were real as well… but it also meant…

He raised his hand.

"Persona".

Nothing happened, no rush of power, no feeling of being enveloped by the power of another being, his confusion rose, he didn't understand, why did the TV let him through but he couldn't summon _Izanagi_ like before…

Maybe… Maybe he could only summon him in the TV world? It'd make as much sense as everything else to do with this did, but his mind was still plagued with one important question, how did he end up back in bed?

" _ **It seems our time is running short… do not fret, as when you next wake, you will be safe…"**_

That Igor! He had somehow transported him back into his room, but who or what was that Igor? And that blond woman… Margaret… who or what was she? He groaned, all he was succeeding in doing was hurting his brain, he didn't have time to be thinking about this right now, he needed a shower and to get ready for school, he had some questions to ask Chie it seemed, as she was the one who suggested the damn Midnight Channel, perhaps she could shed some more light on his situation? It was certainly a long-shot, but sadly, it was the best he had at the moment. As he rose to his feet, he recalled something.

That girl in the TV… the one the Midnight Channel showed, what happened to her? She looked in pain… and if she somehow ended up in there, and if those creatures were there, he chanced a look back at his TV.

It'd be fine, right? If he found the power of his Persona, then she surely must've as-well right? She'd be just fine… He hoped, after-all it wasn't like it was his problem, right? And with that, he went ahead with his shower.

He showered, dressed and smacked his limp arm against the wall, grabbed his pills and headed downstairs to greet Nanako, just like he did every day since he came here. Well he would've if he'd not come down an hour before Nanako even got out of bed, so he found himself downstairs by himself, the food they made last night, left for Dojima gone, hopefully eaten, he still hadn't seen his uncle, it was beginning to become ridiculous at this point. He shrugged as he went to clean up the plate his uncle left, when his eyes caught a piece of paper attached to the plate.

 _Hey! Thanks for the food, it was delicious! Sorry I haven't seen you much since you got here, I'm planning on ordering Chinese tonight, so make sure you don't eat much in the day! Again, I'm sorry we have not had much time to chat, but hopefully we will tonight! Thanks again for the food!_

 _Your Uncle; Dojima!_

Why did he write "your uncle" as if he wouldn't know it was him? Who else could have it been!? He'd have to let Nanako know, she'd be ecstatic, he smirked, he'd be able to tell Dojima that Nanako helped with the making of the food. He'd also have to ask about money for food shopping on Sunday... they had maybe one more meal they could make before they'd have to resort to take-out, thankfully tonight was Chinese and tomorrow was Saturday, which meant they wouldn't have to worry about food if Dojima lets him and Nanako get the shopping.

Now… what's for breakfast? He'd have to make Nanako something in thanks for the times she made him toast. She didn't have to… and it touched him that she did anyway. He checked the cupboards, he found some bread and some spreading chocolate… he smiled, he knew what he was making for breakfast this morning!

"Good morning Nanako!"

He smiled at the young girl who trudged down the stairs, rubbing sleep out of her eyes, she looked up at his in confusion, she must have been surprised someone was down before her, but he eyes soon glanced at the plate he was offering to her, she moved over to it as he placed it onto the counter, as she climb up onto the stool, he waited as he drank the coffee he had made earlier, he had already eaten his piece and he didn't like to brag… well that was a lie, he loved to brag when he could, his condition didn't allow for much bragging anymore, so he took what he could get.

"OH! Chocolate on toast!" Nanako squealed happily as she immediately began crunching down on her breakfast, a happy smile on her face, he laughed quietly, that was how kids her age should be, smiling and happy about simple things like chocolate on toast, his mind turned sour, not hanging up the washing or waiting for someone to finally come home by herself.

He _really_ needed to ask Dojima about that. He didn't care what his job was, he was practically neglecting his daughter for Christ sake! He did wonder where Nanako's mother was, when he asked his parents about this, they got all quiet and mumbled something about an accident, a word he hated with a passion.

"Thank-you! That was great!" Nanako hopped of her stool and placed the empty dish into the sink, he smiled at her gratefulness, her happiness was infectious it seemed.

"You ready for school then?" She nodded as she grabbed her small puffy pink coat and school-bag, he shoulders his satchel and finished the rest of his coffee.

"Dojima mentioned we're having Chinese tonight, he said not to have too much to eat today."

"Daddy's coming home early tonight!?"

"I think so, the note didn't really say what time, only that we're having Chinese… are you excited?"

Nanako nodded happily as she skipped out of the door, he chuckled, shaking his head as he followed.

That girl was almost too much sometimes.

It wasn't long before he found himself eating his home-made dinner at school with Chie and Yosuke sat around his desk.

"So?"

"So, what?"

"What do you mean what? You know what I'm talking about!"

Oh, please don't start this.

"No, I don't! How would I know? I can't read your mind!"

"Ugh! You're so dim sometimes Yosuke!"

"HEY! Who're you call dim karate-girl!?"

Okay… this is not happening.

"What'd you say?"

"So… about that Midnight channel yeah? Did you guys, do it?"

His voice cut in, silencing the pointless bickering the pair seemed to love to do. Immediately Chie blushed and turned her face to the side, whilst Yosuke's face grew disturbed.

"Ye-yeah, I saw it… I saw a girl in mine, couldn't really tell who she was though, looked like school student to me."

"That sounds eerily like what I saw, girl, couldn't tell who, but she seemed to be wearing a school uniform from what I could tell… what about you Chie? You did check it right? I mean, you did tell us about it" he was surprised with how much he spoke, but he found himself overly curious of what they all saw, because something told him that the whole 'true love' myth, was nothing more than that; a myth, he felt there was something much bigger going on, such as a certain TV world filled with monsters.

"I-I did! Of-course I did!" Chie spoke loudly, drawing some fellow students' attention, but they quickly lost interest as they returned to their own conversations.

"Then what did you see Chie?" Yosuke asked, his interest piqued as-well.

"I saw… a girl as-well… the same as yours…" her voice trailed off as she finished, obviously not happy with her apparent revel of her 'true love'.

"Oh… whoa! I didn't think you swung that way Chie?"

Is that worry in your voice Yosuke?

"I DON'T! It was wrong!" Chie stood up, he arms flailing wildly in Yosuke's direction, he raised his arms, trying to placate the 'beast' as it were. And as amusing as this entire ordeal was, he needed to know more than just that.

"Did any of you see or do something else?"

"Like what?"

"Like…" He sighed, time to take the insane plunge it seemed.

"like your hand slipping through the screen?"

Silence was the answer he received, before Yosuke and Chie suddenly burst out laughing, and their mocking laughs immediately decided for him.

"Okay, if it's so funny how about I show you!? Where can we find massive TV's?" His voice held back his obvious irritation, he'd show them.

"Okay… hahah…. Dude, we can go to Junes after school and you can try your 'magic trick' on one of the flat-screens, just don't break it!"

"Yeah! That reminds me, my parents are interested in getting a new TV after our old one broke!"

"Broke? You mean you kicked it re-enacting one of your Kung-Fu movies!?"

"Hey s-shut up!"

Could they just go already! He couldn't wait for school to be over finally.

"Alright you little crotch-spawns, GET BACK IN YER SEATS!"

And then there's this asshole.

School couldn't end any quicker, as soon as the bell ended, he found himself almost frog-marching the pair to Junes, and considering his condition, he was lucky he didn't over-exert himself, once they reached Junes, Yosuke led them to the TV section and to be honest, he was floored with the sheer number of large TV's aligning the shelfs, Junes really did have everything it seemed.

"Geez… I didn't expect the TV's to so… expensive…" Chie's voice sounded defeated, he smiled evilly, he was petty, he knew that. As the pair argued over prices he found the right TV for his 'trick', he scanned a few different TV's until he found a 42inch flat-screen TV, it was perfect, easily enterable, that was, if his 'power' worked on other TV's other than his own, it'd be a pretty rubbish power if he could only enter his _own_ TV. He readied himself, preparing for whatever may come. He raised his hand and gently placed it against the TV, his hand slipping through just as easily as his own TV.

Now what?

"OH, MY JESUS DUDE, WHAT DID YOU DO?"

Oh right… Yosuke and Chie.

They ran over, their mouths agape in shock at what his hand was doing.

Suck it!

"How did you do that!?"

"I was telling the truth…"

With that he placed his upper body into the TV, curious to see it was the same place he was in when he first entered a TV. However, all he saw was simply fog once again. How strange, he couldn't even hear Yosuke or Chie behind him, like being in the TV world prevented hearing the 'real' world. But he did feel someone grab onto his waist and try to pull him back, in his initial surprise, he attempted to remove their hands from him, he wasn't comfortable with physical contact at all! He managed to push one of their arms of him when he felt something shove into him.

And now he was falling.

Faaaaaantastic…

His ass hurts.

He fell onto his ass and now it hurt, well at least the left side of his ass hurt.

It was so bizarre how his body worked sometimes.

"Ugh… I think I landed on my keys…" Yosuke groaned as he stood, Yu was already on his feet, dusting his legs off, Chie on the other hand.

"AHHHHHHH! Oh my god, where are we!? Are we in the TV!?"

He glanced around, this was certainly a different area then before, he could make out some kind of scaffolding surrounding him, and the floor looked different, different colours adorning the ground, it looked like a kind of stage to him, he managed to make out a few different paths leading away from their location, no obvious exit, the blue door from his last visit to this world no-where to be seen, they'd have to pick a path and hope for the best at the moment, that reminded him, how were Chie and Yosuke doing?

"What the hell is going on!?"

"We are going to die down here, we are going to die!"

That sounded about right.

"Guys, calm down, we need to think clearly right now!"

"What do you mean 'clearly'? We're in a god-damned TV dude! How could we think clearly right now!?"

He had a point. He really did.

"Listen, just calm down, if we keep panicking like this, we're never going to get out of here!"

"Dude, how can you be so calm about this? We're in a god-damned TV!"

Yu walked over to Yosuke and Chie, his eyes scanning for any of those creatures, they were in dangerous territory now, and it was mostly his fault really… He shouldn't have been such an idiot with poking his head through the TV again.

"I told you that I went into my TV yesterday, I was telling the truth!"

Chie jumped forward, grasping his collar "then how do we get out of here then!? You've been here before, right?" He carefully grabbed her hands in his one, and pried them of him, she had the decency to mumble an apology at her aggressive action.

"This isn't the same place I ended up as yesterday, and I'm not even sure how I got out of here, I just woke up in my bed in the morning!"

"You woke up in your bed? How the hell does that help us!?"

He frowned as he shook his hand through his greyish hair in frustration.

"I don't know okay! I didn't expect to be pushed into this damn place! Let's just pick a path and head down it!"

"Y-you wanna look around?"

He turned to a random path and began to walk slowly.

"It's better than waiting here and dying, right?"

"Dy… DYING!?"

"C'mon!"

The pair ended up following him, discussing what this place could even be, how it existed, they asked him what he knew of the place, to which he answered the best he could, leaving out details about the monsters and that weird 'Velvet room'. He didn't want to panic them more than they already were, after all, if any monsters showed up, he should be able to take care of them. He hoped. They followed a path lined with doors, none of them were openable, and seemed more like they were painted onto the wall then actually being doors. He began to feel slightly ill at this point, the atmosphere of the TV world must've been affecting worse than the last time he was here. It felt like before one of his episodes, so he was Internally thankful he had his pills on him, it would really suck to have an episode in here with no way to prevent it.

"Damn it! How long have we been walking? I'm exhausted!"

"Yosuke! We've been walking for like 10 minutes! How could you be that tired?"

"I don't know damnit, it must be this place or something! Don't you feel tired at all?" Chie didn't respond straight away.

"Now that you mention it… my legs do feel really heavy…"

He wasn't exhausted, he just felt sick, like his body was building up to an attack, perhaps having a persona stopped the exhaustion?

"Hey, is that an open door?"

He looked ahead at what Yosuke pointed at, it was indeed an open doorway that led into a dark room, hopefully it was better than absolute fog all the time.

HE WAS WRONG, HE WAS SO WRONG.

"Is that a freakin' noose!? Holy hell!"

Damn right Yosuke, he scanned the noose hanging from the ceiling fan, dangling above a lone chair, he noticed posters of a woman with the face part ripped off aligning the walls. This place set of so many alarm bells in his mind, and his chest was tightening even more now, he wanted out of this place _NOW._

Yosuke suddenly ran into the corner and began to unzip his pants.

Are. You. God-damn. Serious?

"Really Yosuke? Here?"

"Hey, I need to go, I've been holding it forever!"

He shook his head in disgust and turned back to the door, he'd count to 10 and then walk out.

"Damn, I couldn't even go, this sucks!"

Yeah, the fact Yosuke couldn't take a piss really sucked…

They turned back the way they came and came across a stairwell that wasn't there before… spooky! He peered over the edge, it seemed safe to descend, he couldn't see or hear any of the creatures thankfully, maybe they only originated in his TV world?

He realised how stupid that sounded.

He began his descent when suddenly his ears perked up at a recognisable noise.

Oh no…

"H-hey guys, can anyone else hear that growling?"

He turned his head towards the two, a look of mild panic on his face.

"RUN!"

"What?"

"I said run!" He shoved Yosuke and Chie towards the stairs.

"Dude, what's happening?" Yosuke tried to stop, but Yu didn't let up with his shoving.

"No time, just run and don't look back!"

Yosuke hated it, but he ran, Chie behind him, they didn't realise that Yu was not behind them, it wasn't their fault, he hadn't told them he could barely walk, never mind run. He just hoped that didn't realise and try to come back for him, he'd hate himself if they got injured because of his stupid curiosity. He turned back down the hallway, he could see the round figures rushing towards him, how had they snuck up on them so easily? Was it the fog? Did it hide their presence? He shook his head, it didn't matter, all that mattered was stopping them here.

He raised his arm, ready to summon the power he knew he within him, when suddenly his heart crunched in his chest, his breath escaped his lungs, as his body convulsed in pain, he was having an episode. He grasped his chest, desperately trying to regain his breath.

Pills.

He needed his pills now!

He reached into his coat pocket, his hand managing to grasp the small bottle, his entire form was shaking now, his eyes began to blur, he couldn't pass out, not here, not now. The shadowy creatures were upon him now, their long tongues growing far too close to him for comfort.

He didn't have enough time, he wouldn't be able to open the bottle!

Is a desperate panic, he did the only thing he could.

"Pe…PERSONA".

As he hands clenched, he felt his heart practically explode in his chest, as _Izanagi_ formed before him, a deafening screech of pain coming from the persona as it brutally decimated the creatures before him. His eyes grew too heavy as he convulsed in agony, no breath finding its way into his lungs, he only hoped _Izanagi_ could finish the last couple. Another piercing cry rose from his persona as it's one arm grasping the naginata, it slashed left and right, bisecting and dissecting the creatures one by one.

It'd be more appropriate to describe what _Izanagi_ was doing as more of a _slaughter_ then a battle, it decimated them, he could only watch in fear as he fell to his knees, why was _Izanagi_ screaming in pain so much?

 _ **A persona is the manifestation of your will… they respond to your needs, your pains… they are you in that respect.**_

Igor's words struck him, was _Izanagi_ feeling his pain as well?

" _ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGHHHHHHHHHHH"_ the scream pierced the very air as _Izanagi_ threw his spear into the ground and grabbed one of the creatures, and ploughed the monster into the wall, wailing in agony as it continued to crush the pathetic life from the beast. Black ichor exploding over _Izanagi's_ hand.

His body hit the ground, hard, his vison going black, if only he could reach his pills! But his body wouldn't respond to him anymore, he damned his body, damned his pathetically weak and frail body to hell.

 _Izanagi_ roared as it punched through one of the creatures, into another one open maw, grabbing the second one's tongue, he yanked as hard as he could, pulling the monsters tongue out of its mouth through the first one. More appeared as _Izanagi_ roared in pain one last time as lighting struck down from the heavens and obliterated the remaining monsters, leaving nothing but a scorch mark on the ground.

Then _Izanagi_ faded, leaving behind one final scream of agony.

And Yu Narukami's eyes closed, passing out from the excruciating pain, his bottle of pills lying next to him, unopened.

He didn't want to die like this.

 _ **It seems that our dear fools body cannot cope within this world for long.**_

 _ **My, it does seem that Fate despises him.**_

 _ **But what will he do? Will he give in and allow the truth to be lost forever?**_

 _ **Or perhaps does he wish to march on through uncertainty and pain, and reach the truth?**_

 _ **Only time will tell it seems.**_

 _ **But for now, tis time for you to wake, wake and re-join the waking world.**_

He felt weak, he felt weak all over, even on his numb side, he couldn't even begin to try explaining that. He just felt absolutely defeated, he didn't even want to open his eyes, he just wanted to keep them closed and sleep, but his mind stopped him, he was forgetting something important…

"Dude, are you okay!? What happened!?"

Oh yeah… TV world… Yosuke and Chie.

How was he alive?

He forced his eyes open, squinting in pain, he first saw Yosuke's worried face relax in relief as he realised he was now awake.

"Chie! He's okay!"

Hurried footsteps caught his attention as Chie also entered his vision, a happy smile on her face.

"Thank god! We were so worried, why didn't you follow us!?" Her eyes began to water slightly as a few stray tears managed to escape, she wiped her eyes with her sleeve.

"Stupid idiot, trying to be a hero or something…"

He tried to chuckle, but he didn't have the energy to do so, his mouth opened.

"Ho- How am I…" He couldn't finish the question, not because he was exhausted, but because he was scared to say the dreaded word. Thankfully Yosuke seemed to understand as he rummaged in one of his pockets, revealing Yu's pills.

"We found these next to you, thankfully we managed to get you to swallow two, how could you not tell us you needed these? We would've never have run then, hell we would've helped carry if we knew!"

All he could manage in response was a sorrowful smile.

He felt bad, he knew why he didn't tell them, he simply didn't trust them enough to reveal he needed them, hell if he hadn't of passed out, they'd still be unaware, he felt sorry, but he just didn't want people to know more than they needed about his condition.

God-forbid, if anyone managed to see his freak show of a right side.

"C'mon, help me up…" He raised his arm as Chie and Yosuke heaved him to his feet, Yosuke wrapping his good arm over his shoulder, he tried to pull away but a fierce look from the both stopped him. Hi eyes scanned their current location, they were back at the start; that kind of stage from before.

"W-What happened? How'd we end up back here?"

"We came back man! Gave you the pills and we carried you here, it's where we entered, so Chie figured an exit might be here as well."

"Yeah! We've been looking around for some kind of exit…"

Something told him that the searching was to no success, as they were still currently within the TV world.

"I'll help look too."

He once again tried to move away from Yosuke, but he was immediately held tighter.

"Like hell you will man! You need to rest, I don't know what happened, but those pills are strong as hell, so whatever happened couldn't have been good for you!" Yosuke's argument was valid, whilst he worded it somewhat confusingly, his pills are extremely strong, so evidence suggests that his condition must be pretty serious to require them. He knew it was futile to argue with them, they were making sure he was okay after what happened, he doubted it was due to pity or anything like that. It didn't mean that couldn't inwardly chastise and insult his own weakness, his own weak and frail body.

He nodded, and allowed Yosuke to lower him to the floor, so he was sitting comfortably, he promised himself that he could at least keep watch for any of those things, and protect the pair if he had to. His eyes found the three different paths leading away from the stage, barring the first one they went down, two remained un-travelled, perhaps one could lead to their safety? Or perhaps it could lead to more of those things? Was the risk worth the reward?

The obvious answer was yes, it was worth the risk, if they didn't take the risk, then chances are, they'd simply die of starvation, if not to the monsters first.

So, the options were; die, die horribly, die slowly, or take one of the two paths.

Seemed like a stupid debate when 3 out of the 4 options ended with certain death.

"He-HEY! What the hell is that!?"

His head followed Chie's startled voice as he found a roundish shape coming towards them from the fog, damn, looked like he'd have to fight after all, he heaved himself to his feet, shaking wobblily on his feet, he was exhausted, his episodes may physically pain him greatly, his pills drained him mentally, it was funny how the pills that were supposed to help him from physical pain, pained him mentally. He wasn't even sure if he could summon his persona right now, he felt so weak, no longer feeling the slight tingle in the back of his mind which he accommodated as his persona. But it looked like he'd have to try anyway, he'd just have to wait until he could see the creature clearly.

Yosuke and Chie rushed towards him, probably trying to protect him now that he was barely standing on his own feet.

"Uh… G-get the hell away from us!" Chie shouted at the figure, attempting to scare the creature away if possible.

He wondered briefly what kind of vicious monster would attack them now, what horrible beast would attempt to snuff their lives out, what disgusting creature would…

"Hey! It's not beary nice to shout at a stranger!"

What… The… Fu…

"Hi! I'm Teddie!"

Huh…

"WHHHHHHHHAT!?" The pair shouted in shock, he just stared silently at the strange bear mascot looking thing in, his pills didn't give hallucinations, right? This was real, right? His eyes scanned the bear costume, it's paws? On its waist? An adorable frown marring the costumes face.

Nope… this was real, so very real.

What was up with this world? First monsters, now a weird talking teddy bear, the size of a human. What was next? That there was actually nobody within the teddy-bear mascot costume.?

"WHAT THE HELL, THERE'S NO-ONE IN THIS COSTUME?"

He watched as Yosuke held Teddie's head, as the body still stood, the 'costume' being completely empty.

He wanted to go home now.

Yosuke dropped the head, tripping onto his backside, dragging himself back as fast as he possibly could, Chie assumed a fighting pose, her body shivering in fear, but still trying to put a brave face on, for Yu? He simply stared, his brows escaping into his hairline in surprise, he wasn't afraid or worried about this 'Teddie', he could tell that this 'bear' was a harmless as Yosuke, now… was that an insult to Yosuke or Teddie? He couldn't really tell. A Teddie's head hit the ground, his headless body stumbled towards it, waving its arms around wildly, it reached its head and clumsily picked the head up, and placed it back where it belonged. Once back on Teddie's shoulders, his eyes opened in shock and mild annoyance.

"Hey! That was 'beary' rude! Do you always just grab onto people you just meet?"

"Du…dude what the hell are you!?" Demanded Yosuke.

At that question, Teddie seemed to still, it's 'eyes' growing forlorn.

"I'm not really sure…"

"Wha…?"

"I don't really know who I am, all I remember is my name, I just know that this place is where I live…"

And somehow the previously terrified mood went even further down into a depressive mood.

He found himself curious about this; Teddie. A bizarre creature that lived in the TV world that didn't want to attack them, not only that, but this harmless looking creature was apparently suffering from a serious case of missing identity, he actually found himself wanting to help this poor creature, help this poor creature to find itself. He opened his mouth to ask a question when a squelching screech pierced the sombre air around them. He scowled, more of those creatures had found them. Chie and Yosuke circled around him, apparently making sure he was the safest after his episode, for Teddie's part, he had jumped in fear, waving his arms around.

"Oh no! They're here! Quick use these to get out of here!" Teddie clapped his 'paws/hands' and a plume of smoke erupted randomly, when the smoke quickly cleared, three small TV's appeared stacked on-top of each-other.

"What the hell are some TV's gonna do for us?"

TV?

Teddie managed to get behind us and began pushing us towards the stacked televisions, Yu managed to balance himself on Yosuke as he received one final shove before he found himself slipping through one of the televisions. One second he was in mortal danger and the next he found himself lying on the cold floor of the June's electronics department.

So that's what 'some TV's' are going to do for us.

He pushed himself into a sitting position, not caring if some shoppers gave him side-long glances, he was exhausted, he could sit down wherever he pleased. He noticed Yosuke stand up and breath a massive sigh of relief, to which Chie reciprocated, they had made it, that strange bear mascot had effectively saved their lives. Yosuke reached his hand out towards him, to which he accepted the gesture allowed Yosuke to pull him to his shaky feet, Yosuke's eyes frowned at Yu's wobbly stature.

"Hey… you gonna' be okay getting home on your own?" his voice held a level of concern that honestly touched Yu, Yu simply nodded and gave what he hoped was a reassuring smile as an answer. He needed to sleep, literally sleep the second his head touches the pillow in his room.

It seemed like he'd have to skip out on the Chinese food tonight, Dojima would understand given his condition, and Nanako probably wouldn't mind that much, or at least he hoped that she wouldn't mind that much. He took a cautious step away from Chie and Yosuke, and immediately found himself stumbling to the ground, thankfully it seemed like Yosuke was prepared for this, and quickly balanced him from collapsing to the ground. He couldn't even find the energy to be angry at being helped up, his pride could take a hike at this point.

"I'm fine, I'm fine…" His assurance was sadly hollow, he was most certainly not fine.

"C'mon man, let us help you back to yours at least, me and Chie can handle it, right Chie?"

"Yeah, definitely!"

"No… not to my house, my guardians a cop, he'd ask questions, he'd think we're crazy, just help me to the shrine on the market-street, I can manage on my own from there."

He could tell that neither of the pair were happy with his refusal, but they acquiesced all the same, realising that they couldn't explain what happened to his guardian, he'd be seen as crazy. Yosuke hefted his arm over his shoulder for support and Chie stood to the side, ready to assist at a moment's notice if needed.

They made it to the shrine with little incident, Yu even managing to walk by himself the closer they got to their destination. Of-course Yosuke and Chie were upon him like mother hens if he ever stumbled, he found it too endearing to be annoyed at their obvious concern at this point. He found the usual bench he sat at on his way home these days, just outside of the local shrine, although he was here much later than usual, the sky bearing a dark night above.

"Thanks guys, really… but I'm good from here."

Chie steps forward, rubbing her hands together to gather some warmth in them.

"You sure? We can help you to your street at least, we don't mind, honest!"

Yu simply shook his head, a calming smile on his face. "No, it's fine really, I'm thankful that you both helped me here in the first place, but it'd be best if you both get home now before your parents begin to worry." Yosuke and Chie look against his idea initially, but in the end, both nod their heads to his suggestion, he was right after all, it was getting rather late and it'd be best they get home before anyone became concerned. And so, they left, giving him their best wishes. He no found himself alone on the bench, simply relaxing allowing the cool air to calm his body and soul, he let out a relieved sigh, he needed this apparently, after such a terrifyingly hectic day, leaning back on a wooden bench with the wind slightly blowing through your hair was just what the doctor ordered.

He did grumble however, he would have to get moving soon enough, and he was absolutely exhausted still, but he could still wait here for a while longer, he was sure Dojima would understand when he told him his half-truth of what happened today. As he relaxed, his mind wondered to the Tv world, why did it exist? How did it exist? What were those monsters? Why did he have a Persona? What made him so special?

He was just a boy doomed to a death he was failing to come to terms with most days. His eyes widened, that Teddie character! Maybe he could shed some light on that world, he didn't have a chance to ask him any questions before because of the monsters, but perhaps on another day he could?

He checked his watch, it was getting too late, he'd better be getting home now, he leans forward on the bench and takes a deep breath, counting down in his mind from 3.

 _3_

 _2_

 _1_

He heaved himself to his shaky feet, taking extra care not to trip and fall like a fool. He focused entirely on getting home, now that he was standing, he felt so tired, he was so tired in fact that when he got home, all he could manage was a weak wave and nod to Dojima and Nanako eating Chinese food, the pair surrounded him, worried for him, Dojima covertly asked Nanako to fill a cup of water and take it into his room and as she did so, Dojima leaned in.

"Are you okay?"

He wasn't, he was nowhere near okay.

"I'm fine… just had an episode and the pills I used knock me for a loop, I just need to sleep…"

Dojima's eyes softened at that, sombrely nodding as he helped him up the stairs, he didn't even have the energy to complain that he could do it himself.

"We'll save some Chinese food for you, and if you're not up for it, don't feel pressured to go into school tomorrow okay?"

The teen could only nod as he was worried his words would simply fail him right now.

He was helped into his room, Nanako big eyes filled with worry, he gave her his best smile he could at the time and hoped that it was enough. Soon enough he found himself lying in his bed, wishing a goodnight and thanks to his uncle and cousin. The moment they left the room, his eyelids felt as heavy as steel and he quickly found himself succumbing to the sweet embrace of sleep. Not caring about anything else for the moment.

However, maybe he should have, as if he had checked the Midnight Channel, perhaps he could have prevented a tragedy.

 **Chap end**

 **Did you enjoy it? As a said above, I'm sorry about the lateness of this chapter, work's a bitch that way sadly. I can't confirm when the next chapter will be, but hopefully it won't take as long as this one did.**

 **I thank-you for reading and have a good day.**

 **And remember to:**

 **Live like you're dying!**


	4. 4: And you can get back up

**Chapter 4: And you can't get back up**

 **A/N:** **Hey there! I'm so sorry about the lateness of this chapter, especially after I said in the previous chapter this would only take a couple of weeks (pulls collar nervously), but I am happy to say it's here, and it's here in all its almost 8000 words entirety, please let me know what you all think, especially with the fight scene (I was unsure if the way I went about it worked, but I personally liked it).**

 **Ps. I'd like to quickly thank a couple of readers who have written helpful, yet also kind comments about each chapter, so thank-you; Ulrich362 and HumbleWare, it's comments like yours that make this hobby so enjoyable, and that goes for anyone who finds the time to write a comment, no matter how short or long it may be, all of you make this all the more special (that's not to say I don't appreciate those who might just fave or follow, I very much appreciate those people as well** **).**

 **Please enjoy!**

His eyes opened, tired and unwilling to fully accept the coming daylight, an annoyed groan escaped his mouth as he scratched an itch on his chest, he checked his phone for the time;

 _9:30 AM_

 _356_

His eyes barely glanced at the three digit number and instead sighed at the time, he had obviously slept past school opening and missed it, It seemed Dojima was serious about him not having to go into School tomorrow. He could only hope that he didn't get too many questions about his absence, although to be fair the school was informed of his condition. He glanced at the time again, a few minutes had passed and it was with great resignation that he managed to use his good arm to push himself into a sitting position. A wave of dizziness struck him like a truck as his upper body became vertical, almost collapsing back, he managed to hold himself up allowing the dizziness to pass. Thankfully it only lasted a few short moments, a small blessing in his mind, his pills usually gave him extreme migraines when he had to use more than a couple a day.

Carefully extracting himself from his futon, taking care to not catch his bum leg on the bed-sheet, he finds himself standing tall in his small room. Well… more liked; hunched over rather than standing.

Standing could be saved for after a nice long bath.

Meandering his way out of his room, taking a moment to smack his useless arm against the wall, as always, he felt nothing.

* * *

After a relatively stress-free bath, the teen returned to his room, now standing, and dressed in a long white jumper with brown baggy slacks, he was officially in layabout mode today. Grabbing his phone, he made his way down the stairs with no incident to find an empty living room and kitchen, assuming Nanako was at school and his uncle was off doing… something police related, he managed to find a box of Tupperware with a note stuck onto it.

 _Hey Yu!_

 _I hope you're feeling better today, don't worry about missing school, I've already called in to let them know you won't be attending, just rest and recover today okay?_ _Uncle's orders. This box has got some of the leftover Chinese food in it, feel free to help yourself, obviously, we had to bin a few things but there should be enough for dinner in the box. I'll be working late tonight, can't say much about it. Nanako was worried about you, she barely touched her food all night, let her know you're okay, okay?_

 _See you soon!_

 _Dojima._

A smile made its way onto his face, at home, his parents never took a moment just to leave a note like this, usually it was just; _"foods in fridge"_ , but his uncle had almost written an entire paragraph, he did frown however when Nanako was brought up, she was too kind for her own good, worrying about his useless self, he'd have to make it up to her somehow… perhaps he could actually get around to asking Dojima for some money so he and Nanako could go shopping at Junes? She'd like that, he hadn't been here long but there had not been a day where Nanako hadn't spent some time humming that alarmingly catchy tune.

He opened the box, surprised to find quite a bit of food, far too much for him for an entire day, he could only eat little bits here and there since the accident, the accident and resulting surgeries had damaged his stomach as well, so it could only handle small measles of food at a time, any more and he found himself head first in a toilet, 'passing' his food. He wasn't even hungry at the moment, so he closed the lid and placed the box in the fridge, taking note of the out of date milk, joy…

Having absolutely nothing to do, he went to sit at the couch, however, he wasn't paying attention and found himself being pulled back, as his numb leg had managed to catch itself on the kitchen counter, he grimaced as he heard the thud, that would definitely leave a bruise later on, he had to put some cream on that. Thankfully he managed to plop down onto the couch without further incident, grabbing the remote, he switched the TV on.

"Hello, and welcome to Inaba's morning news".

News? Of course, besides the Junes advert, this was the only other thing ever shown on the old TV. He shrugged, he figured he might as well see what's new In Inaba today. Barely paying attention, Yu fiddled with his flip phone, scrolling through his contacts, a very short list he mused, his parents, his uncle, his personal doctor at home, his 'new' personal doctor in Inaba, and that was it, damn, he didn't have a single number of someone his own age, he mentally berated his cowardice at not asking for Yosuke's number or even Chie's for that matter, he'd have to ask them later, even if it was just to prove that he did have friends in Inaba, a scowl suddenly forced its way on his face.

It wasn't like his 'friends' back home cared to talk to him after the accident.

"Tragic news today as Yasoigami high student; Konishi Saki was found dead earlier today…"

What?

His head shot up, his phone forgotten on the couch as his eyes found themselves glued to the screen, on it a reporter spoke about how the teen had been found dead in a similar situation to the last killings in Inaba, he didn't need to hear the explicit details to see it, Saki, hung up-side-down from a TV antenna, the reporter motioned for a clip to be played, showing a student reporting about finding the previous victim hung from an antenna, a clip show of Saki smiling at the camera for an unknown reason, the reporter talking about how her parents had sent this clip in to show her at her happiest, she was in her school uniform, her curly hair swaying in the wind slightly, she looks so happy on the TV at the moment.

TV!

His mind went back to the midnight channel two nights before, on the screen was a blacked out form of a woman seemingly squirming in pain, his mind played it off as nothing important, but, he had been inside of the tv, he had seen how dangerous it could be in there, and he had a Persona to fight for him, what if someone ended up in that world without one? How would they defend themselves? How would they escape?

That's when it struck him.

They wouldn't be able to fight.

They wouldn't be able to escape.

Saki Konishi had somehow ended up in that horrifying world with no way to defend herself, she had shown up on the midnight channel, in pain, pleading for help, he had seen it.

 _It wasn't like it was his problem._

He fell silent, crumbling even further into the living-room couch, he could have saved her, but he didn't.

 _She'll be fine right?_

He had simply assumed something so stupid.

 _He found his persona, so obviously she would, right?_

He knew nothing about how that world worked.

 _Wasn't his problem_.

The reality froze him to the core, through his inaction he had allowed for an innocent girl to die in that horrible world, he had the power to save her and him didn't not only that, but he didn't even consider it!

He might of well have killed Saki himself because through his inaction she had died.

He felt sick, so very sick, whilst he knew his inevitable death was close at hand, the thought of anyone dying still sent him sick to the core, he felt bile rise up in his throat. He gagged as he rushed towards the bathroom, not caring about his clumsiness, he heard his numb leg and lame arm smack and hit against everything on the way up the stairs, but he somehow managed to find himself face down in the toilet, retching anything and everything in his damaged body. His body racked with his retching, nothing spewing from his mouth, but the urge to throw up persisted, he felt sick, not just sick with the news, but sick with himself, he was scum.

Disgusting scum.

He could have saved her, why? Why hadn't he saved her? She who had her entire life left whilst he had barely a year, why had he survived but she hadn't? Where was the justice in that?

One final retch signalled the end of his body trying to empty itself, and he simply sat back, allowing his body to catch some much-needed respite, poor Saki, poor, poor Saki, he pondered what her family was feeling like at the moment, wondered what her friends were feeling at the news, that's when his eyes shot open.

Yosuke!

Yosuke had fancied her a lot, that much was obvious, he must be so hurt at the news, he recalled Yosuke mentioned something about tickets to a movie or something, he planned on asking saki out.

Saki…

The only words he had spoken to her were cold and harsh, and that only added the guilt to his weak form, he wished there something he could do!

TV…

A light-bulb went off in his head, of course, he might not be able to undo what had happened, but perhaps he could find out why Saki was in that world in the first place!

He could stop this from happening again!

He needed to get to Junes right now. He shakily pushed himself to his feet, crying out when he almost fell over, his body was shaking like a leaf after his retching episode, but he persevered past his incredible discomfort, he had to get to Junes now, he managed to stumble down the stairs, catching himself on the bannister before he tripped over. That's when his mind made the connection.

Yosuke and Chie knew about the TV world, they knew he had entered it before, they knew it was dangerous, maybe they had made the connection between Saki's death and the Tv world like he had? Fear gripped his heart.

Maybe Yosuke blamed him for trying to save her?

His mind told him it was foolish to worry about that, Yosuke didn't know he had a persona, only that he managed to get in and out of the TV world unharmed, he couldn't possibly blame him for Saki's death, for not doing anything, right?

His sudden determination to get to Junes began to ebb away at the thought of encountering the fellow student, but if Yosuke had made the connection about the TV world and Saki's death, wouldn't he come to find me anyway? To get back into that world? For all he knew, Yosuke or Chie couldn't get into that world without his help. He looked at the time, it was now 11:00 AM, he had a while before school ended, perhaps it would be best to wait for school to end and try to find Yosuke and Chie, face the music so to speak? There was always a chance they hadn't made the connection or if they did and didn't blame him for anything, he had already allowed an innocent person to die through his inaction, the least he could do was face the potential accusations from his two classmates, right?

Or was he that much of a damned coward?

He glanced one more time at the clock on the wall, it's small hand ticking on by with no worry in the world, by the time it finished one full circulation he had made his mind up.

* * *

He stood there, ragged breaths escaping his exhausted form, he had made a longer walk than this for more than a week and had only suffered from mild tiredness, but the short walk from his uncle's house to the local shopping mall had rendered him practically dead on his feet, it seemed his 'episode' yesterday and the previous retching had done him absolutely no favours. It all added up to make his choice, even more, harder to keep, he managed to somewhat calm his breath as he began his short trek to the electronic department of Junes, taking mind not to bump into anyone, his eyes motioned to the useful wall-mounted large clocks that were littered around Junes, he had arrived just when he wanted to.

Around half-an-hour, after school had finished, so if his theory about Yosuke or Chie making the connections he did, would give them ample time to arrive.

He wasn't sure why he was so sure that even if they did make the connection that they would go here first of all places, they could try his house? They didn't know the exact place, but it'd make more sense then just hoping he'd be at Junes, but something told him that they would come here, perhaps it was his persona? Subtly trying to lead him in the right direction perhaps? He honestly couldn't know.

He passed through the air-conditioned doorway into the electronics part, a scowl on his face, his ears picking up nothing but gossip about the death of Saki Konishi, it was like people were talking about it as casually as the weather, it sickened him, especially when his mind wondered to the darker aspects of his mind;

 _Would they talk about his incoming death the same way?_

He didn't know and frankly, didn't want to know.

He turned the corner to the section of TV's they had 'used' yesterday and was honestly surprised to see both Yosuke and Chie huddled around the same flat-screen TV from yesterday, Yosuke tying a rope around his waist whilst Chie looked around anxiously. He briefly debated simply turning back the way he came, forgetting about what his insane mind had planned, however, he found himself drawing closer to the pair.

"Hey, guys…" His voice… weak was the aptest term for it, weak from the retching he had just done, weak from the mental gymnastics his mind had been doing all day, depressingly, he considered the term far too appropriate for his entire being.

Weak.

Although weak his voice may have been, the pair did indeed hear him, as they both turned almost immediately, both of their faces lighting up with utter shock, but why? They knew he had to be there to get inside the TV right?

…

…

They forget that, didn't they?

Chie rushed towards him, worry etched on her face, instantly he found himself being held up by her surprisingly thin, yet strong form. That's when he noticed his shaking again, god, his face must've looked like utter death for the way the pair were gaping at him.

"Wh-What are you doing here!?" Chie whispered harshly, trying to keep attention to them to a minimal, "I'm… here for the same reason as you two", that halted any response from Chie immediately as both she and Yosuke instantly grew somber. Carefully retracting from Chie's support, he forced himself to walk with only his usual limp up to Yosuke.

"I'm coming with you." A statement, a cold and hard statement.

It only took a second for Chie to interrupt whatever Yosuke was going to say; "like hell you are! You look like hell, that place must have affected you worse than we thought!" Briefly, he was relieved that they assumed that his current condition was purely due to the TV world. "I have to… besides, I don't know about you two, but I seem to recall being the only one to go through the TV, right?" He knew he had them beat when their faces dropped in embarrassment.

It seemed they had forgotten about that crucial titbit.

"You sure you can keep up dude?" Yosuke's voice was filled with worry, but also a deep sadness at what he presumed as still him coping with Saki's death. In regard to the question; no, no he wouldn't be able to keep up, he liked to believe he coped with his condition better than others would, but he wasn't delusional, if he didn't have his persona, he would be totally useless in the TV world. But he did have a persona, he could make a difference, and the chance to do so made him almost giddy with excitement, the excitement he was ashamed of due to the reason behind him wanting to make a difference. So, he didn't say yes, he just nodded.

And that was all Yosuke needed when he handed the rope over to him, to which he smiled slightly in response, it felt good to be trusted with something like this. Chie also apparently grew to accept his answer, half-heartedly smiling in reassurance.

"Okay, so, we've got this rope to pull us back out if we can't find that bear again. I've also brought some weapons, hopefully, we won't need them, what d'ya think'll be better for you? One handed or two?"

Was he serious, he was aware he only used one arm right?

Apparently, Yosuke had forgotten if the terrifying glare Chie sent him told the disabled teen anything, "oh right… sorry" muttering the quick apology, the head-phone wearing student passed him a lug-wrench, shrugging his shoulder, he pocketed it, if it all went well he wouldn't have to fight himself, planning purely to rely on Izanagi for any monsters they came across. That did bring up his plan of letting Yosuke and Chie know about his persona, but he guessed he could come across that problem when it came up naturally.

Who knows, maybe nothing would go wrong anyway?

Line Break

"Famous last words" he mumbled darkly at the sight in front of him, staring both determined yet fearful at the giant ninja like frog monster that towered before him.

 _Shadow._

Right…

Ninja-like Frog _Shadow_.

He glanced at his unconscious companion laying on the cold liquor store floor, then his eyes traveled to the bear mascot from yesterday cowering behind the front counter, and then finally back to the monster in front of him.

 _Shadow._

It didn't matter what it was called, all that mattered was that it was trying to kill him… brutally.

And it had been going so well.

They had entered, him and Yosuke, Chie left in their world to pull the ropes back, that was until the rope snapped shortly through the TV, they had even come across the helpful 'Teddie' from yesterday who accused them of throwing people into this world, which was a huge cause for concern. The bear had informed about how the shadow world worked somewhat, giving them each a pair of glasses for viewing the world better, which helped immensely. They had found where Teddie said Saki was, which ended up being some sick and twisted form of her father's liquor store.

That's when things quickly took a turn for the worst.

They had been set upon by a yellow-eyed Yosuke gloating and bemoaning about how pathetic Yosuke truly was, revealing all his deepest secrets and hidden wants. One line which in particular struck the Silverite hard;

" _You only wanted to hang around with Yu because you thought you'd get sympathy points from a girl!"_

He knew it was true, the second the second Yosuke spoke, he knew it spoke the truth, it was obviously some form of personal demon, a personal _shadow_ , so it obviously know what the real Yosuke was thinking, he knew it was true and he wanted to be furious at his 'friend'.

" _Please… please stop, it hurts, please…"_

Yosuke's pleading voice almost forbade him from holding a grudge, and at that point, he wanted nothing more than to save him, rather than hate him. However, that's when bad went swiftly to awful.

" _YOU'RE NOT ME, YOU'LL NEVER BE ME!"_

The ecstatic laughter that followed would stay with the young teen the rest of his life. Yosuke's doppelganger became enshrouded in an ethereal black smoke, impossible to see inside the smoke, the teen was left alert, nerves exploding through his body.

"Teddie, what's happening?" His voice was strong, hiding away the immense dread deep within him, the bear-like mascot answered, from behind the counter, where he cowered "My best guess is that the second Youke was his shadow and… I guess denying it being him has caused it to access its full power!" He nodded, keeping his eyes focused on the swirling vortex of darkness, pointedly ignoring his aching chest.

And that's how they came up to the situation they were in now, standing across from the large, imposing shadow hell-bent on ending his and Yosuke's lives. His body becoming more lethargic the longer he spent in this TV world, he needed to deal with this shadow and get himself and Yosuke out of here.

" **HAHAHAHA, WHAT'RE GONNA' DO NOW CRIPPLE BOY!?"** The shadow cackled mockingly, already assuming its imminent victory.

Choosing not to respond to the insult, Yu searched deep inside himself, grasping that quickly becoming a familiar power, he felt it overwhelm his form, forcing back the spike of pain in his chest as he allowed his power to form. He'd have to act quickly. He brought his working arm forward, the arcana of the Fool materialised in his palm.

" _PERSONA"_

He crushed the card in his hand, reveling in the moment of euphoria this overwhelming power gave him, as before, the form of the helmeted figure garb in black and silver armour appears before him. The young teen opened his mouth to issue commands when the pain In his chest assailed him even more, he fell to his knees.

 _Not again!_

It was the same pain from the last time he summoned his persona, and… he managed to raise his vision to his ethereal companion.

Izanagi was becoming cloaked in a red mist, his yellow eyes becoming duller, and it was not long before the giant humanoid let out a deafening screech of agony. Holding its naginata in its left hand.

" **WH-WHAT THE HELL?"** Demanded the humongous transformed shadow, when no answer was received, the monster simply brings its large front frog-like hand above the form of Izanagi, smashing it down upon the persona's form. A pained scream tore through the air, however it was not from Izanagi, instead it was from the shadow itself, as the naginata Izanagi held was throughst straight through its palm, black ichor spurting from the wound, the shadow attempted to pull its pierced hand away to no avail, as Izanagi's red misted form simply swung his blade forward, slicing through the rest of the shadows palm and wrist like a hot knife on butter. The blade continued forward until the shadow managed to tear its arm away, howling in agonising pain.

Yu could do nothing but simply watch his persona destroy Yosuke's shadow, his pain beginning to overwhelm his weak form.

Izanagi darted forward, screeching in pain-induced rage, the shadow swung its undamaged palm, his persona didn't even try to dodge or block but simply hefted its blade, and launched it through the air, sailing through the shadows other hand. Another scream of pain as shadow Yosuke pulled that hand back as well. Now bladeless Izanagi keeps charging for his target, leaping from the ground towards the shadows upper-body, he grabs the shadow's head with one arm and squeezes, more agony filled screams quickly follow as Izanagi attempted to crush the monster's skull. Unfortunately, Yu's personas plan of 'rush in and attack' was foiled as suddenly a miniature tornado of yellow wind smacked into Izanagi, throwing him from the shadow onto the harsh ground below.

When the wind struck his persona, Yu felt his left side also get hurt.

 _ **Your persona is an extension of your soul personified into a being that can fight, they feel what you feel, and as such… you can feel what they feel.**_

These thoughts were not his, but those of a certain long-nosed individual within a velvet 'room', and now it made sense to Yu, why Izanagi acted so unreasonably aggressive, his persona was feeling the growing pain in its chest, just as he was. He looked at his persona, which slowly pushed itself to its feet, red mist even more prevalent than moments ago, another roar of pain filled the room as Izanagi charged blindly once again, no thought or plan to its attack.

 _He… he can't listen to my orders because of the pain, I can't even give the orders with this pain… I-I need to fix this._

He needed to think, he needed to think of a way to get rid of or even lessen the pain In his chest, so he and Izanagi could properly cooperate, because as he watched Izanagi charge blindly into a huge palm strike from the shadow, taking the attack head-on, and whilst his persona managed to hold its palm back, the strike still hurt Yu. They needed to get Izanagi's weapon back from Yosuke's shadow's other hand. As Yu's mind tried to come up with a plan, another strike from the shadow sent Izanagi flying back, crashing into a nearby wall, Yu's entire left side flared in pain, in the back of his mind, he was almost thankful his right side was numb. He fell onto his front, still conscious.

"SENSEI!" cried Teddie, scared out of his wits, unable to move in fear of the shadow turning its violent attention to him.

Even though he couldn't see it, he could feel Izanagi struggle to its feet, silent cries of pain wracking its entire form. He could feel exactly what his persona felt, and he felt sorry for it, sorry that its summoner wasn't strong enough to handle its power, he was so damn weak.

His eyes dulled as the pain grew ever more, ignoring the rush of wind as Izanagi flew over him, straight into the huge shadow, smashing them both through the back wall. That was when he saw it, his eyes widening as the sight of a very familiar pill bottle rolled into view. He needed to grab the bottle, but he found his arms unwilling to move, it was just like last time, the longer he summoned Izanagi, the weaker and more pain filled his body became, if only someone could give him his pills.

Another smash distracted him, as Izanagi practically threw the huge shadow back into the room, the rumble that the body of the shadow hitting the ground caused the pill bottle to roll away, out of his blurry sight. It was as if fate itself was messing with him right now, he managed to bring his head up to watch as his persona bellowed loudly, bringing its useable arm down onto the ninja-like part of the shadows head viciously, it wasn't like a carpenter plying his trade, but more like a savage beating down onto its prey, desperate to smash the life out its eyes, it'd almost disturb him if Izanagi wasn't saving them at this moment. However, brute force could only get you so far, as soon enough, another wave of wind smacked against Izanagi's right side, smacking him against the adjacent wall, strangely enough, Yu felt no pain when the attack connected this time, most likely to do with the fact that Izanagi had yet to use its right arm, perhaps his persona also ha his disabilities? Questions for another time as the distance the shadow had created had given them some respite, a small moment of respite, quickly broken by another haunting scream from the cloaked persona, which once again, rushed in without a plan of attack.

He needed a plan, he needed to gather his thoughts through his pain, he needed to give a command to his persona, even if it was just one word, he needed to do so. As the pills were no-where he could see, he took a deep breath, followed by another, and by yet another, each time he drew in a breath, his chest clenched in pain, each contraction like his heart pleading him to stop, but he persevered yet again, each breath bringing slightly more clarity to his rattled mind.

That's when he 'saw' it, 'saw' it within his mind, the single word that would throw this battle into his favour, the single command that would save them all, focusing as much as he possibly could, his eyes drilled into Izanagi's flailing form, one word running through his mind.

 _ZIO._

It was as if a switch turned on within Izanagi, the wild attacks halted and for a brief moment, clarity was shown within his yellow eyes, but only for a moment.

But a moment was all they needed.

With the force of a hurricane, Izanagi threw his arm upwards, the palm aiming outwards to his opponent, and as if the dam was broken, a bolt of pure lightning exploded from Izanagi's hand, it broke forth towards the shadow, arching this way and that, the shadow was unprepared for the speed of the attack and was unable to do anything as the lightning struck, and even in his rattled state, Yu could practically feel the absolute agony the shadow went through as the electricity charred and destroyed the shadow in mere moments.

Then silence, a black vortex engulfed the shadow, and that was as much as he could see until his pain came back two-fold, Izanagi de-materialised, and his eyes closed yet again in this dangerous world from pain, the last thought occurring inside his mind;

 _I hope Yosuke is okay at least._

* * *

He found himself opening his eyes, which was a good sign, it meant he yet lived, a plus any day in his mind. At first, he heard muffled voices, but when he fully revealed his dazed eyes to the world, the voices grew closer.

"… okay?"

He only caught the last part of that, but from the blurry image of someone with spiky hair looming over him, he could only assume it was Yosuke checking on him, and when the shape of a rotund figure with two rounded ears also entered his blurry vision, his mind acclimatised to the situation. He was still alive, Yosuke and Teddie were still alive, they had won.

He had won…

He had survived.

But he still felt like shit.

"Are you okay?"

The words were much clearer now, his hearing recovering from his bout of unconsciousness, and he managed a weak nod in answer, which was followed by a relieved sigh from Yosuke. His vision cleared further, and his sight revealed to him the frankly bizarre looking sky of the TV world.

"Wh-where are we? Wha-what happened?" His voice was quiet.

"We're back at where we came into this place Yu, as for what happened, I'll leave that to the bear, I'm still coming to terms with all of this, to be honest…" Yosuke sounded unsure, unsure about what, he couldn't fathom, but unsure nonetheless.

"SENSEI IM SO HAPPY YOU'RE OKAY, WHEN YOU PASSED OUT, I WAS SO WORRIED AND THEN YOSUKE WOKE UP AND THEN…"

It was instinctive, his arm reaching up and sealing the bear's erratic mouth "too loud" he muttered exhaustedly, he waited for a second before retracting his weary arm.

"Sorry Sensei! But after your persona went BEARserk, and beat Yosuke's shadow, you passed out, then Yosuke woke up and managed to give you some pills from a bottle!"

"What happened to the shadow?" He did not want to hear it survived after that attack and got away, thankfully his fears were needed, as Teddie answered; "well, his shadow turned back into him, Yosuke tried to deny it again, but I convinced him that it was a part of him and rejecting could lead to another attack! And with you being unconscious Sensei, I don't think we would've made it!" One piece of Teddie's answer stuck with him; 'a part of him?' What did that mean, what actually happened to the shadow? His mind ran a mile a minute trying to come to terms with the bears bizarre phrasing. Thankfully it was Yosuke that came to his 'rescue'.

"I kinda accepted it, and now I have this thing called a… persona? That's what Teddie told me it was called anyway, he also told me you had one as well, and that's how you saved us, thanks for that by the way, really."

Yosuke had a persona as well? Well, out of all the things he thought would happen, that was certainly not high on his list, not even considered, to be honest.

A surprise to be sure, but a welcome one nonetheless.

"Why are we still here then?"

"We were waiting for you to wake up, I gave you some pills, and I carried you back to here, where we waited about ten minutes for you to wake up, I didn't want to drag you through the exit unconscious, Chie would throw a fit!"

He chuckled, she would indeed.

"Well," he sighed "I'm still exhausted, but I think we'd best get out of here before anything else happens" He spoke calmly, but in reality, he wanted out NOW, his body was still tired, and he had no idea how long his pills would stabilise him for.

And get out of there they did, himself and Yosuke very much ready for sleep, however, they had to deal with a very angry and worried Chie.

Scratch that, a very angry, worried and _crying_ Chie, a combination that Yu thought he'd never see from the tomboy from the short time he had known her. Honestly, he didn't even have enough energy to deal with her incessant worry and just nodded dumbly and left as swiftly as he could, grudgingly accepting the offer to meet up tomorrow from Yosuke and 'talk' about all of this, something he was more than happy to do so… after sleep.

So it was with tired farewells that they agreed to meet up at the food-court in Junes tomorrow to talk, so it was with that Yu found himself shambling towards his uncle's house, ready for his bed to consume him, it annoyed him, being awake for around 4 to 5 hours and he was already feeling as tired as he was the other day, that world inside the TV really got to him, he just hoped he wouldn't have to go back in there again.

He arrived at the bench outside of the nearby park/shrine on the main road, taking a moment to gather his breath, he lowered himself onto it, letting out a relieved sigh. Who was he kidding though, chances are he'd find himself back in that world due to some circumstance, he face grew grim, he'd definitely wouldn't consider " _not his problem"_ if another person appeared on that Midnight channel again, there was no definitive proof, but that channel had something to do with that world, and he'd be damned before e let another person… die in there due to his inaction, and now there was Yosuke, he got his own persona, would he want to do the same as him? Help those who might've fallen into that horrid world? He certainly hoped so.

However, these questions could be held until tomorrow at their 'talk', he briefly wondered if Chie would be there, but quickly squashed that internal question, of course, she'd be there, she was far too considerate and brave to leave this whole mystery alone. She'd be there for certain.

"Hey there!"

His head turned to the origin of the noise, only mildly surprised to see his fellow student; Kanji Tatsumi waving at him, an unsure smile on his face. He reciprocated the gesture, motioning for Kanji to join him on the bench, he hadn't talked to Kanji in a couple of days and the sudden appearance of the blond teen immediately brought a smile to his face. The teen was most definitely brash and scary looking, but from the few talks the pair had done, he could tell Kanji was much nicer than his looks presented.

Kanji let out a nervous chuckle as he plopped down onto the bench, making sure to keep a wide berth between the two boys, and Yu had a distinct feeling it was not due to Kanji not wanting to be near a 'cripple', from his outlandish look he determined that 'looks' didn't mean much of anything to the punkish student. "Hello Kanji" he mumbled, voice notably tired from today's excursions, and Kanji instantly picked up on that; "you okay Senpai? You sound tired, and to be honest, you look like crap", Yu couldn't even try to stop the defeated chuckle escaping from his throat, he sure did didn't he?

"I mean! Shit, I didn't mean to insult ya Senpai, I was just worried yaknow?" Kanji tried to correct himself, stumbling over his words trying to apologise, he found it amusingly adorable, this thuggish punk trying to stutter out an apology, however, before Kanji could dig himself deeper, he placated his worries with a lazy wave of his arm, "it's fine Kanji-san, to be honest I feel like crap myself, have done since yesterday" as much as it was fun to tease Kanji, he wanted him to speak freely, it was a refreshing change for everyone talking circles around his well-being, it being related to his disabilities or not. In the short time, he had known Kanji, the teen had treated him like a completely normal person, something he was sure Kanji could understand how much he appreciated. Kanji's eyes grew mildly concerned at Yu's explanation, "yeah, I noticed ya weren't in school yesterday, figured you were sick or summet…"

"My, my Kanji-san, went to school, did you? And here I thought you were too tough for the thing" he mocked Kanji light-heartedly, something which Kanji himself picked up on, if the slightly annoyed smirk told him anything, "that's not fair Senpai, I went in expecting to talk to my 'new' friend, but ya weren't there!" a mischievous glint appeared in Kanji's eyes and Yu laughed openly at that slight dig, enjoying the light-hearted banter between the pair.

It felt good, really good.

Kanji contributed a small chuckle of his own at the mild ribbing, presumably also enjoying the feeling of talking openly with someone, Yu summarised that his appearance most likely intimidated people, and thus left much to be desired in casual conversation with people his own age.

"Hey Senpai, can I ask you somethin'… somethin' personal?" Kanji's voice was nervous, and it was only now he noticed Kanji rubbing his hands together anxiously, and he himself felt a level of anxiousness strike him, already guessing what the question would be; ' _what's wrong with you? What happened to you? Is it contagious?'_ Common questions, common and incredibly infuriating, he was almost tempted to tell Kanji no, but hesitated, Kanji had treated him fairly, he didn't deserve his scorn.

"Yeah… sure, what do you want to know?" Hi, voice was calm and collected, belaying the feeling of dread rising within him.

"Ca… Can I get your number?"

Huh?

He stalled for a moment, utterly baffled by the question, this was the personal thing he wanted to know? His number? Was it really that important to the teen? But he found himself flipping his phone out, passing it over to Kanji so he could copy his number and presumably input his own into Yu's. As he watched Kanji visibly relax and exchange their numbers, he found himself asking; "is there any particular reason you wanted my number?" He queried, curious to the reasons behind such an action. Kanji froze for a moment, but quickly recovered, "well, 'cause we're friends, right? So, it makes sense to have each other's numbers, right?" The logic was flawless, He couldn't dispute that, but somehow, he felt that there was another reason for it, but decided to not press on it, instead he found himself smiling honestly at the fact that he finally got a friend's number on his phone since coming to Inaba, and surprisingly it wasn't even Yosuke as he initially figured. He was handed back his phone and saved the new number as Kanji in his friend's list, a folder in his directory where all of his friend's numbers would be listed, and Kanji was the first one.

 _ **CRACK**_

His head shot up so fast he almost heard his neck crack, what was that noise?

 _ **CRASH**_

Something like glass smashed all around him as he found himself enveloped in a velvet coloured mist, he immediately looked towards Kanji for help but found him frozen in place, unmoving and unresponsive, what was happening?

 _ **~Thou are I… And I am thou…**_

 _ **Thou hast established a new bond….**_

 _ **It brings thee closer to the truth…**_

 _ **Thou shalt be blessed when creating personas of the Emperor Arcana…~**_

His eyes widened in shock, what was that? What did that all mean? He looked back at Kanji, questions running through his mind, was this somehow linked with his power to summon personas? Did Yosuke now have this power?

 _ **It seems the course of fate has been altered somewhat.**_

His head shot up, still 'trapped' within the paused time, he recognised that voice, a voice that was becoming more and more common as all this weird stuff continued to occur.

Igor.

 _ **Do not worry about this, it is simply another facet to your power, we will explain at a later time, for now, simply continue on with your life.**_

Igor's voice was as infuriatingly collected as ever in his opinion, but his words were a small comfort to this strange situation, another facet of his power? He wondered what else was going to happen in the coming year, at the rate it was going, chances are he'd end up overthrowing a god or something, he laughed inwardly at that ludicrous thought.

Yeah right!

However, he had no more time to ponder as suddenly, the blue mist dissipated and without warning, time seemed to return to the world, Kanji continued his previously paused movement and stood up.

"Well, thanks for the chat Senpai, but I gotta' go, I'll talk to ya later yeah?"

"Yeah, of-course Kanji-san, looking forward to it, goodbye".

Kanji smirked as he waved, striding away, "hope you feel better soon!" he shouted over his shoulder, bringing a small smile to his face.

"So, do I…" he murmured to himself.

* * *

He arrived home shortly after the chat with Kanji, feeling mildly energised after the days ordeals, opening the door, he found himself staring down at a pouting Nanako, her big, innocent eyes adorably glaring at his tired form, no words were spoken as she simply pointed at the couch, her eyes practically ordering him to sit down, and for the life of him, he could not find this act anything less that heart-melting, so he amusingly followed her silent demands and seated himself, relaxing the second his rear-end hit the couch. The small girl was on in a second, her small hand presenting two tablets.

"Daddy said you were poorly and needed rest, daddy always gives me two of these when I'm poorly!" Her entire demeanour tried to present the aura of command, but all he could see was an innocent young girl trying to make her cousin better. Without hesitation he grabbed the tablets, they were harmless old tablets, most likely wouldn't do anything to help or hinder him, but it was the overwhelmingly caring thought that made his eyes begin to tear up. Immediately he wiped his eyes with the sleeve of his long-sleeved coat, hiding his burgeoning tears for his younger cousin, he swallowed the tablets, no water needed, he has had more than enough experience with taking medication he no longer required water to get them down. He smiled, a true happy smile at Nanako; "Thank-you, I feel much better now" he lied, to anyone older than Nanako, it would be obvious, however, her level of innocence worked against her as her cute pout transformed into a beaming smile, as she skipped away to the kitchen counter.

"Is uncle-san not back yet?" He questioned, honestly wanting to talk with his small cousin.

"No…" a sad sigh left her lips, before it was quickly replaced with her usual exuberance; "but he said since tomorrow is Sunday, he's going to try and sit down with us and get some takeaway" she returned to him, a cup of steaming coffee in her small hands that were wrapped in a pair of pink, flower-dotted oven mitts, her tongue poking out his mouth; a look of concentration on her as she worked on not dropping the mug. He gratefully took it from her, ignoring the sweltering heat assailing his left palm as he placed it on a nearby surface.

"You'll eat with us, won't you?" It was an innocent enough question, but he was smart enough to see the underlying wordings beneath it, she was still sad over him not feeling well enough to eat the Chinese food with them the other day. So he nodded, reassuringly, determined to take part in this little family gathering, it would give him the needed opportunity to ask about an allowance for groceries anyway. Nanako clapped her mitts together happily at his answer, before quickly rushing back to the kitchen to put the mitts away. He glanced at the time, it was time for tea, and sine Dojima was not there to order takeout, he felt a small smirk cross his face.

"Hey, Nanako-chan, how about I have a look and see what I could cook for tea tonight? Of course, I'll need a certain Sous Chef to help me, but I wonder if she's available…" a knowing smirked crept onto his face as a certain cousin practically barrelled into his vision.

"I'm right here head-chef" she almost shouted, even adding a small salute to accentuate her statement.

He couldn't help, he laughed outwardly at the display of cuteness.

After such a stressful day, he needed this, he really did.

 **Chapter 4 FIN**

 **Well, there you go, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, I certainly had enough trouble writing it! But I ultimately enjoyed what I ended up with.**


	5. 5: It's too late, it's not too late

**Chapter 5: Till it's too late, it's not too late**

 **A/n: So look, been a while eh? Been a long while… I got no excuse for why it took near a year to update, the only thing I can say is that, doing the plot setup for this story was 8Sony bush work for me, until I got to what I really wanted to write. Thankfully, this story will really start going after this chapter. So to summarise, I'm sorry for the long lack of updates, but I do hope anyone who reads this, enjoys it.**

 **A/N Edit: Realised in previous chapter, I wrote that Izanagi has both arms, a contradiction to Izanagi's initial summoning in this story, unfortunately, I cannot go back and edit previous chapters as I no longer have the files for them, but in this story Izanagi has** _ **one**_ **arm, just fyi yaknow.**

 _350_

He didn't attend school for the rest of the week, He played it off to Dojima as his condition acting up, but it was honestly due to how exhausted he was. Everyday he woke up after fighting that shadow shadow, he just felt drained. He'd wake up, feel sick, _be_ sick and then have a long bath, followed by watching the house alone, Nanako and Dojima already having left for school and work. He'd slap on some tv and then get about preparing things for dinner, the least he could do was make it that Nanako and Dojima had good food to return to. Unfortunately, making said food was incredibly difficult, mainly due to the house having almost nothing fresh left. He had also finally gotten Yosuke's and Chie's contact details and had assured the pair that he was _okay_ after the whole shadow ordeal, they had reluctantly accepted his plea of being fine, just slightly under the weather, and was taking time off to recover properly. Thankfully for Yu, the pair had messaged him anything important in school he might've missed. Besides chatting with that pair on and off, Kanji had sent him a few texts, checking in on him, they were spelt horribly and included shortened words and poor punctuation, all Yu could do was think how _Kanji_ the messages were; tough and uncaring looking, but ultimately sweet and caring. It was touching to Yu, truly.

However, today would be different, when he woke this morning and checked his phone, he realised it was Sunday, school was off for the day, and he honestly felt much better this morning, his body still felt like moving sandbags through deep mud, but he concluded that he would always feel like that from now on. It being Sunday also meant it was the perfect day to grab some groceries from June's. A smirk crossed his face; he could finally take Nanako shopping! And if his phone's clock was right; _07:25._ Said child should still be asleep, which meant he had an hour or so to get himself ready for going outside. Which meant a careful bath, making the last remaining toast for himself, Nanako and Dojima, or at least if his uncle had not already been called into work. He let out a groan and stretched his broken body out of bed, avoiding tangling his numb leg in the sheets, he grabbed his wash essentials and left his room, banging his right arm against the door frame.

No feeling, as usual.

 _ **Later**_

After a relaxing bath, he dressed himself (with difficulty) and began to prepare breakfast, during so, he was surprised to see Dojima's shoes at the front door. _Not called in today?_ He shrugged, it made asking for shopping money a lot easier. His good arm turned on the morning news, no rain or clouds today, just sun. _Good, it'll be easier getting the shopping home then._ _**PING**_ , Yu turned at the toaster popping out the toast, and went about buttering them up, he checked the time; _08:15._ He figured it was a good a time as any to wake up his uncle and Nanako.

 _ **Later**_

It was surprisingly easy to get some spending money from Dojima for shopping, although Yu figured the mention of taking Nanako to Junes and her subsequent beaming smile had something to do with it. He assured his uncle that he was feeling much better and was totally capable of shopping, he had received a worried glance for a moment before the older man nodded.

"Just make sure to be safe, and have Nanako back before sundown. Okay?" The silver haired teen nodded. "That reminds me, you have your appointment at the hospital this week, right?" Yu internally scowled, glad that Nanako had left to go toilet before Domjia brought up his condition. "Yes uncle, should just be a simple check up, maybe letting me know of any other surgeries I could have." He deliberately failed to mention that he wouldn't be getting anymore surgeries; _74_ was more than enough for his liking, he just hoped he could get some more of his prescribed pills, especially if he was going to be trawling through the TV world in the future, he would definitely need them in that occurrence. "Tell you what, since I should be home early tonight, if you make dinner again tonight, I'll brew the coffee." Narukami smirked, "What? Can't stand not eating my meals now?" His uncle laughed, "You kidding!? I and Nanako haven't had such good food in ages! Damn right I'm going to make use of your skills." Nanako came back into the room, practically bouncing on her feet, already dressed to go out. "You can't forget my sous-chef uncle. Nanako's a pro in the kitchen!" Said girl somehow managed to beam ever brighter at the compliment, "Don't I know it!" And just like that; the beaming smile turned into a thousand watt smile, Yu sardonically mused if they could somehow use Nanako's infinite adorableness as an energy source.

To be fair, she could light up his day, and he had only known her for around near 2 weeks at this point. Goes to show how easy it was for her to break down the self deprecating walls he put up. "Just you wait Daddy! Me and Yu are going to make the best dinner ever!"

 _Damn right we are pipsqueak._

"Okay my sous-chef, we'd best get going, you all ready?"

"Yep!" Yu smiled, waved at his uncle and opened the front door, ushering the exuberant bundle of joy outside. And with one last glance at the older man, he closed it. "Right then, let's get going Nanako-chan".

"Okay… umm…" The little girl wrung her fingers shyly, eyes peeking up at his for a split second, "can I… umm…" Yu crouched down to her eye-level, pushing away his body's internal creaking at the simple movement, he wondered how much longer he'd be able to do things as simple as just crouching.

"What's up Nanako-chan?"

"Can I hold your hand?"

 _Oh_. This girl was good.

He carefully clasped one of Nanako's much smaller hands in is own good one and smiled kindly, "Of course Nanako-chan! I need you to be my guide, otherwise I'd end up lost". Her eyes bulged in surprise, until she burst into happy giggles, "Okay then! I'll be your guide to Junes, just follow me!" She proudly placed her free hand on her chest, cheeks puffing out in determination, Yu managed a happy chuckle.

"Very well my brave guide, onwards to Junes!"

"Yay!"

 _ **Later**_

Yu was grateful he had grabbed Nanako's hand beforehand, because he was certain if he hadn't, he need a ladder to get her down from the damned ceiling, what with her basically jumping up and down around him singing the Junes song. _She literally has enough energy for the both of us._ He was thankful that whilst the girl was exuberant in energy, she was still considerate of Yu's much slower walk speed, and never pulled him along too hard, something he was grateful to the kind girl for. She led the way to the grocery section of the shopping centre, crossing the sliding door threshold, allowing the wave of air conditioning to slap him in the face. Letting the young girl lead the way, his eyes scanned around him, catching many people going about their weekly shopping. But when he spotted a speck of dark blue in the busy crowd, he almost stalled, eyes shooting to find said speck once again, his eyes managed to spot it.

The blue belonged to a distinct police styled hat on top of purple hair, which belonged to a rather short figure whose back was turned to him, dark blue jacket and plaid pants as well as pointed shoes, the figure stood out to Yu for some reason, perhaps it was the stark contrast of colours between the figure and the rest of the everyday shoppers that garnered his attention, they just sort of _stood_ out in his eyes, they were _different_ from the rest of the rabble.

 _Hmmm, who is that?_

Unfortunately, the teen would not find out today, as Nanako gave a hearty tug on his hand, and him, being unprepared and not fully comfortable on his numb leg, stumbled forward, hand slipping out of Nanako's grasp, flailing wildly for something to balance on. He heard her scared gasp and braced for the incoming fall, but it never came, as he found his form being pulled back to balance by someone.

"Whoa! You okay Senpai!?" He recognised that voice, and once he was certain of his balance, he turned to see the slightly taller dyed blond pinkish teen; Kanji. He managed a forced smile, hating ever being seen in a compromising position by anyone due to his _illness._ "Yeah, I'm good, thanks Kanji-kun". His 'friend' let out a relieved sigh, "That's good, glad I managed to catch ya!" Yu couldn't even be mad about Kanji's statement, knowing he didn't intend for it to come of as Yu being incapable, more of Kanji just being glad he helped him. He felt something bump into his good leg, and he craned his neck to catch Nanako hugging his leg, a sad look on her face. "I'm sorry… I didn't mean to…" Her eyes began to water and Yu immediately went into damage control. "Hey hey! It's okay, I'm fine see? Kanji-kun here saved me", he inwardly cringed at the term 'saved', he wasn't some damsel in need of saving, "So don't feel bad Nanako, okay? In fact, would you like to meet Kanji-kun? He's super nice!" The small girl nodded unsurely, eyes drying up, grateful to see Yu undamaged, her innocent eyes turned to the intimidating blond teen next to him, and immediately shied away; behind his legs.

Kanji for his part, scratched his neck, embarrassed with Yu's praise, and perhaps Yu simply imagined the reddening of his cheeks. "Ah Senpai, you don't gotta lie like that, I know I look like a punk and all that". Yu nodded, "that may be true Kanji-kun, but you've been nothing but kind to me since we met", the silverette shrugged, "I call them like I see them Kanji-kun, and I see you as kind". Said kind individual's jaw had dropped in Yu's blatant praise, unsure how to react. "Anyway, c'mon Nanako, say hello for me! As you can see Kanji-kun's a teddy bear". The shy child peeked around his legs and muttered a shy " _hello",_ and Yu's cold heart melted, it was the same way she had greeted him when they first met, Kanji came back to reality, and crouched to Nanako's level and reached put a calloused hand. "Hey there Nanako-chan, I'm Kanji, a fri… friend of your big bros, nice ta meet ya!" The girls head tilted to the side slightly, " _big bro?"_

"She isn't my little sister Kanji-kun, i'm staying with her father; my uncle, we were going to get groceries before… my unfortunate trip". He even hated bringing up his near fall, he wasn't weak _damnit!_ Kanji glanced up at him from his crouched position, "I getcha Senpai, hoping to impress the little miss with cooking?" He nodded, "You know it!" The pair chuckled, and Yu noticed Nanako's subdued nature, catching her mumbled 'big bro' comment. He pursed his lips in consideration. "Anyway Kanji-kun, what did I say about calling me Senpai?" The questioned teen scratched his neck nervously, "Sorry bout that Senpa… uh… Yu-kun", he blanched, "nope, sorry, but it's gotta be Senpai, it's too weird otherwise". The crippled teen shrugged, it wasn't his prerogative in the end, he didn't want to _force_ the teen to use his given name. "Any-Anyway Senpai; dya reckon… I could uh…" he paused, as if looking for the right word, "... could help ya with the shopping?" Yu stared at him for a moment, _that was certainly sudden_. But, he wouldn't be _against_ Kanji's help, it'd certainly make grabbing heavier items he'd need for cooking easier, he couldn't risk Nanako lifting heavy stuff, and he was down an arm.

"I dunno Kanji-kun… let me just confer with my sous-chef." He grinned at Nanako, it turning into a worried frown at her unresponsiveness, gently he nudges her with his leg, "Nanako?" said girl jumps slightly, "Uh…" she smiles brightly at the pair, "sounds good to me head-chef!" He nodded, making a note to ask about her quiet mood later, "Well, you heard the girl Kanji-kun, I now appoint you as _chef De partie,_ or simply third in command, do you accept?" Yu enjoyed playing along like this for Nanako's childlike exuberance, Kanji's eyes bulged, "Whoa Senpai, was that French? That was awesome, yeah I totally accept being the chef the party". Yu chuckled at Kanji's butchered French, Nanako giggling right along with him. "Very well then, as third in command, your job will be to put the stuff myself and Nanako point out into the shopping trolley". Kanji puffed his chest out comically and gave a confident thumbs up, causing Nanako to burst out into giggles, to which Yu beamed internally; _what a dork._ And then Nanako proudly led the way into the food department, Yu grabbing a nearby trolley. "Stay in sight _Nanako!_ " He pleaded with the bouncy child, letting out a strained huff as he pushed the trolley along, keeping up with the girl, Kanji strolling somewhere in-between the pair, for which he was thankful for, no one would mess with Nanako with someone like Kanji nearby.

However, before he followed into the food department, he glanced back to where the figure in blue was before, only to find them gone, feeling mildly put out at that, he crossed into the food department. Ready to finally begin shopping.

"No Nanako! We don't need a _full_ chicken!".

 _ **Later**_

They made it home after a couple of hours, Nanako tired out from all her bouncing and singing, Yu tired in general. _Thank god for Kanji being there, we wouldn't have gotten the shopping home without him._ Twas true, Kanji had offered to carry the heaviest bags with no complaint, and Yu had reluctantly agreed, well aware of his own physical limits. Simply looking in a mirror was a stark reminder of said limits. His wounded pride had been worth it in the end however, as the sight of Kanji's face after being hugged by Nanako in thanks was priceless, as Yu was grateful he managed to get a picture of it, and would inevitably tease the poor lad mercilessly with it. He had even bumped into Yosuke whilst shopping, the teen working at Junes that Sunday, he had looked over Yu in obvious concern for which he brushed it off, and instead caught up with the lad face to face. It was all so _mundanely_ refreshing, they didn't talk about the TV world and instead, Yosuke mentioned how he and Chie missed him in school, a touching sentiment for the silverette. He had assured the Junes clad teen that he would see him in school on Monday, Yosuke had even made him pinkie promise! Yu had laughed and aquesesied.

Now back at Dojima's residence, Yu realised that the pair had a while before they started dinner, some hours in fact, and if Nanako's tired wobbling told him anything, it was she needed those hours as a nap. "Come on Nanako-chan, go have a nap, I'll wake you up when it's time to cook". She had stomped her foot, pleading childishly, "but I'm not _tired_ , and shouldn't you have a nap if I am!?"

 _Ah, child-like logic, infallible._

"I'm older Nan-chan, I'll nap later, but you're literally falling asleep where you _stand_! I can't have my sous-chef being tired during food prep". The child crossed her arms and huffed, cheeks puffing adorably, " _FINE!_ But you have to promise to wake me up in time!"

"I promise". She nodded, satisfied, and as she turned to head upstairs, Yu recalled something, "Nanako-chan! Back when we bumped into Kanji-kun, he mentioned something about a _big-bro_ and you went quiet… is something wrong?" The adolescent didn't answer, instead she shook her head; _no_ , nothing was wrong. "Uh… okay, just know that if something _was_ wrong, you could talk to me, alright?" She nodded, back still facing him.

"Okay, have a nice nap Nan-chan!" She went upstairs. _Nothing's wrong my scarred ass._ A tired sigh left his mouth, he could do with a nap honestly. However, his phone buzzing in his pocket put a pin in that. Flipping it open. _A message from Yosuke?_

 _ **Yosuke: Hey dude, I know we just saw each other, just finshd wrk wondering if you still want steak?**_

Yu checked the time, he certainly had enough time to hang out and get back to make dinner. And he _really_ wanted one of those 'amazing' steaks. _Why not?_ So he went about slowly typing a reply.

 _ **Yu: Sounds good, where do you want to meet up?**_

 _ **Yosuke: Awesme! :) meet me near Inaba shrine, yaknow the place?**_

He pictured the only shrine he knew about in Inaba, it was a short walk away, maybe 10 minutes for his speed.

 _ **Yu: I know the place. I will see you there soon.**_

 _ **Yosuke: Dude, so formal… even in messages :(**_

He let out a chuckle, now all he needed was for Chie to ask to hang out and he'd have been with all his friends today. Yu decided on a final message before he headed out.

 _ **Yu: By the way Yosuke-san, it's spelt 'awesome'.**_

 _ **Yosuke: t(~_~t)**_

He laughed.

 _ **Later**_

"So whatcha think? Good right?" The brown haired boy sat across from Yu at a quaint table and bench, in-front of a steak skewer vendor, The partly paralysed boy didn't verbally reply, he just continued chewing away at his steak. Yosuke laughed, "I'll take that as a yes", his expression turned serious, "by the way dude, I… went into the TV world". You could of heard a pin drop, Yu stared a hole through his fellow student, "you what?" The nervous teen bowed his head and clapped his hands together, "I know it was dumb and stupid and dangerous, but I was just bored one night and tried putting my hand on my tv… And it went through".

"But, how? Why? You couldn't do that before right?" Yosuke nodded, "Right! But I can now, when I went to ask… Teddie… he said it was to do with my persona or something…" Yu choked on his steak, coughing up a piece of it, "p-persona!? You have one?" The questioned teen scratched his chin, a shade of red growing in his cheeks, "Yeah, after my shadow thing was beaten, I kinda accepted it and voila! Don't you remember? Pretty sure I mentioned this." Yu dipped his head, to be honest, he probably did but he had been so wrapped up in his illness, he most likely forgot. "Sorry, been kind of out of it this week, so what? You entered the TV world and what?"

"Well I used the same one you used at first, came out at the same place, Teddie was already there, he mentioned some weird stuff, not knowing who or what he was or something. Anyway, I figured out how to summon my persona and left". Yu nodded along, glad that Yosuke didn't put himself into even more danger, the other teen suddenly patted over his breast pocket and pulled out a pair of simple looking glasses. "Oh yeah, take one of these, Teddie said they help with seeing through that thick fog". He took one, trying it on, they fit comfortably enough. "Why give me one? Unless you're planning on going back into the TV world?" Yosuke's silence was all the answer he needed, "Are you serious? In case you forgot, we almost _died!"_ He hated how the word tainted his lips, died, death, _dying_! He despised all of them, mainly because they all summarised him, unfortunately. "I know it was bad, but just listen okay?" He stifled his outburst for Yosuke's explanation. "Okay, so you know how that midnight channel showed Sa… Saki-senpai before her… whatever, the point is, I think that her showing up on that channel, meant she had been thrown inside the TV world!"

"Thrown inside? But that'd mean someone besides me could go through the TV world, you really think that!?"

"I dunno what I think! All I know is that Saki-senpai died in there… alone and scared, I… I just want to make sure it doesn't happen to anyone else… yaknow?" His shoulders slumped at the end, as if the fight to explain had left him, but Yu struggled with himself about what his friend said. _No one deserves a fate like that… but, I barely survived every time I've been in there…_ he shut his eyes and clenched his fist, he didn't want to die in there, but the mere idea of someone else suffering in that horrid world sent shivers down his spine. However, what ultimately tipped his decision was the thought of someone like Nanako being trapped in that world, an innocent sweet soul surrounded by deadly monsters, with no discernable way out, even the thought of it made him want to be sick. In the end, Yu sighed weakly. _Guess I'll just have to tough it out._

"Okay, I'm in…"

"Please dude you gotta under… you are?"

He nodded, "I am".

"Great, holy hell is that load of my mind!" Yu shook his head, "I'm in, under three conditions…"

"Name 'em!"

One finger rose, "No one goes in there by themselves, that's a death sentence." Second finger, "If we have to go in, we discuss it calmly and logically, we can't let our emotions take charge in there, too dangerous", the final finger, "we always go in through the same TV in Junes, who knows where another TV would drop us, okay?" Yosuke nodded vigorously, "Yeah dude, those are super reasonable conditions, it's a good thing you're the leader!" The silverette nodded, "Yeah whatever… wait _what!?"_ He leaned over the table, glaring, "What do you mean I'm the 'leader'?" Yosuke let out a nervous chuckle, "Well, when we all fell in, you took charge, kept us safe, even sent us ahead to face the danger. Plus you had your persona first, which means you're more experienced!" A shaky grin formed on his lips' "Come on! The role was practically made for you!"

 _You're forgetting I'm a cripple who passes out everytime I use a persona._ However, he couldn't deny that the teen made some convincing points, and to be honest, out of a team of two people; one of them _Yosuke…_ An annoyed groan left his mouth. "Okay, guess I'm the leader". Yosuke let out a triumphant whoop! "Awesome, with you in charge, there ain't nothing we can't do!" Whilst he appreciated his enthusiasm, Yu knew that this 'hope' could come crashing down very quickly. _Just look at my life._ But he didn't deny his friend's cheerful attitude, he did curb it however.

"Shut up and eat your steak".

"Yes boss!"

 _I made a horrible mistake._

 _ **Fwoosh**_

 _ **Crack**_

 _ **Crash**_

 _Or, maybe i didn't… Magician huh?_

 _ **Later**_

After the bombshell that was Yosuke practically forcing Yu into leadership in the; 'woefully unprepared brigade', the light brown haired teen paid for both meals, and they went their separate ways, as Yu passed the local shrine, his eyes caught sight of something peculiar.

 _Is that a fox?_

 _ **Later**_

 _Dear diary, I made friends with a fox today._

He opened the front door, expecting maybe Nanako, what he didn't expect was to see Dojima and a stranger sat around the kotetsu, having takeout. "Ah! Yu, was wondering where you got of to, come over here!", Yu obliged, brows raised at the stranger; a rather meek, mild and generally pathetic looking man, and that was coming from _him!_ "Yu, this is Adachi, he's my new assistant, Adachi, this is Yu; my older sisters son".

 _Just call me your nephew._

Adachi looked up, takeout noodles dangling from his mouth, "hiiiii Yuuuu-khun!" Yu grimaced at the blatant disregard of manners, but he nodded, "nice to meet you too; Adachi-san," he turned to his uncle, "I thought we were eating home cooked food tonight?" Ryotaro sheepishly bonked his head, "heh, sorry Yu, I kind of forgot, and then I invited Adachi over and we were hungry, so…" Narukami merely sighed, he wasn't too annoyed, in all honesty, his uncles forgetfulness saved him slaving over a stove, he was more worried about Nanako's reaction, she had been so excited to cook for her dad, she had barely stopped gushing about it during their shopping. "Hey, don't worry Yu! Tomorrow you and Nanako can cook, I promise!" Yu waved it off, "Fine by me, I'll let Nanako know, it was a pleasure Adachi-san," said man simply gave a thumbs up, mouth still stuffed with noodles. Yeah, Yu didn't want Nanako meeting this guy, especially if he was the reason they weren't cooking tonight, he'd tell Nanako the news himself and let her work through it by herself, instead of blowing up at her dad. Because that's what he had done when he was her age. He left the front room, ears catching the end of something Adachi asked; "So what's wrong with him?" Yu almost stormed back down and beat the man with a chair. But he didn't, mainly for two reasons, one; his uncle was a cop and he'd rather not be arrested for assault. Two; Adachi was wrong, it wasn't "what's wrong with him?", it's; "What isn't wrong with him?" Because, not only did he look like a slasher movie victim under his clothes, but he didn't feel much better about himself.

A scowl crossed his face. And just like _that_ , the rest of his day was ruined, he passed Nanako's door, and knocked, a disgusting pessimistic side of himself was grateful he got to tell Nanako the bad news.

At least it wouldn't only be his day ruined.

 _ **Later**_

So after successfully ruining a young childs day, Yu decided to simply relax, he even took a nap for a few hours, and when he woke, he found Yosuke had messaged him.

 _ **Yosuke: Hey dude, be sure to check out the midnight channel tonight!**_

 _ **Yu: Don't worry… I will -_-**_

It wasn't like he wanted to have a normal sleep pattern for school tomorrow. Yu let out a weary groan as he plopped himself onto his pull out futon. If he was going to stay up till midnight, he was going to get comfortable. Checking the time, he found that his nap was a few more hours than he expected; _._ Around five more hours to go, eyes scanning his room for any entertainment, they landed on a finely crafted paper origami crane, a memento from before his accident, his dexterous hands used to be able to bend and fold sheets of paper into a variety of things, now? He raised his good hand and flexed his fingers, taking note of their almost hesitant strain, another side effect of his surgeries, his entire left-hand would ever so slightly tremble. His doctor's actually recommend trying one handed origami, to exercise his finger muscles, he never did however. Although, he had nearly five hours to burn and nothing to do. _Hmmm, might as well give it a shot._ He gathered some spare paper and awkwardly sat crossed legged at his small table. Having to lift up his numb leg and place it in a comfortable position. He flexed his fingers, _here goes nothing._

 _ **Later**_

Four and a half painstaking hours later; a shoddily crafted paper crane sat on his table, the wings weren't aligned and the neck was comically short, but it was _there_ , he had _made_ it, granted it took nearly five hours and he felt like he needed a nap to recover, thankfully, sleep would visit him soon, he only needed to wait a few more minutes until midnight at this point. He returned to his futon, placing the shoddy crane on his bedside table and waited.

 _ **Later**_

 _5, 4, 3, 2, 1…_

The unplugged TV sparked to life, static filling it, Yu watched it, still transfixed by the utterly abnormal circumstance. He began to ponder the logistics of how and why this _midnight channel_ existed. However, the sight of an outlined figure on the TV caught his attention; average height, long hair, definitely female from what he could see, unfortunately the static was too heavy to properly ascertain the person's identity. But the mere sight of said outlined figure sent a feeling of horror to grasp him. _Another person… just like Saki._ He didn't even realise he had called Yosuke instinctively until his phone began to ring.

" _Hey dude, did you see the midnight channel?"_

"Yeah… it's like with Saki-san, I couldn't make out who it was though. Could you?"

" _Ugh, nah, couldn't tell. Pretty sure it was a girl at least"._

"I figured the same, unfortunately, I doubt; 'is female with long hair' narrows down the person". He heard a sigh through the phone.

" _You're right… well, at least we have something, so we at least have to try! I won't let what happened to Saki-senpai happen to anyone else!"_

"That's the plan".

" _Anyway… uh, thanks for the call. You still coming into school tomorrow?"_ His voice was unsure, as if uncomfortable in asking. Yu appreciated the sentiment, but he already said he was coming in, so he was _coming_ in. "I'll be there Yosuke, see you tomorrow".

" _Ye...yeah, see ya"._ And Yosuke hung up, the line going dead. Yu plugged his phone into charge and took a final glance at his TV; it was blank once again. _Time for bed, actually want to be in school on time for once_. He got ready for bed, haphazardly throwing on a pajama top and pants, he applied some of his ointment to to his many scars, the swelling from the harsh fall around a week ago had healed up nicely, but Yu figured it was better to be safe than sorry. After doing so, he laid his head onto the bed pillow and quickly drifted off to sleep.

…

…

…

 _ **Power of the wildcard…**_

 _ **Gain strength from friendships…**_

 _ **This key will allow you to return to this place…**_

 _ **Will you seek the truth? Or fall short in the despairing for?**_

 _ **It is time for you to wake… dear fool…**_

 _ **We SHALL meet again...**_

He bolted up in shock, eyes wide and awake, body covered in a light sheen of sweat, he took a deep calming breath, collecting his thoughts about that _dream_ , although it was probably not a dream in his opinion, he was in _that_ place again; the _Velvet Room._ _Wildcard? Strength? Key… Key!?_ Yu scrambled for his bedside table, unaware his numb leg had gotten caught in his bed sheet, which meant as he left the bed, he tumbled to the ground unremorsefully. _Good start to a day_. Ignoring the fall, he reached the table and grabbed his keys, his blood ran cold; on his key-chain was a _new_ key, a purple key… _The key to the Velvet Room._ His breathing became ragged, his fingers clenched at his chest. _What the hell is happening!? Why me!?_ He needed his pills, he _needed_ them. It was like everytime he gained a modicum of sense in this clusterfuck, something new just pulls the rug from under him. Shakily he grabbed his pull bottle and popped a couple into his mouth, and tried to take deep breaths as he waited for them to kick in. It took a couple of minutes, but eventually he managed to calm down. His palm covered his face as he let out a tired groan. _Is it too late to call in sick again?_ As much as he wished to, he knew he couldn't let down Yosuke like that, and he really wanted to see Kanji at school as well, genuinely curious about his attitude when not with him. _Time to put up and shut up._

He checked his phone;

 _349._

 _07:25._

"Time for breakfast. Wonder if Nanako wants eggs or not?"

 _ **Later**_

It turns out, Nanako did indeed want eggs and toast and bacon, so Yu found himself cooking up a breakfast for himself and the adorable girl, he didn't let her help him this time, the poor girl was barely awake in the first place. However, she had quickly woken up when she had taken her first bite. Yu would always remember the sheer joy the bundle of cuteness had exuded at a simple home cooked breakfast.

"We'll have to cook breakfast for daddy one time! He'd _love_ it!" Yu had smiled and nodded, his uncle was damn lucky his daughter loved him so _much._ They enjoyed a quiet breakfast after that, only a few questions from Nanako if Yu was alright to go to school, anyone else he'd be annoyed, Nanako asking? He found it endearingly sweet. Afterwards, they both walked to their respective schools, and once they reached the river.

"I'll see you at home, okay Nanako?" She nodded and turned to leave, when suddenly she spun back to him and wrapped her arms around his thin waist.

" _I'm glad you're feeling better"_ , and she spun back around running off before Yu could react, arm outstretched as if to stop her, but he didn't, instead he allowed a warm smile to overtake his lips. _Thanks Nanako, thanks for caring._ And then continued his way to school, feeling more ready than ever for what awaited him.

 _ **Later**_

"OH AND LOOKS LIKE THE ABSENTEE SHITSTAIN HAS DEIGNED TO GRACE US WITH HIS PRESENCE!"

Yu took back that earlier thought; he was _not_ ready for what awaited him. He decidedly ignored the buck toothed teachers rant, and quickly situated himself at his desk, nodding politely to Chie and Yosuke, noticing that Yukiko was not next to the green jacketed girl, he wondered where she could be, from the small interaction he had with her, he gathered that the pair were nigh inseparable. It was only when he received a paper note from Chie, who sneakily passed it him when the teacher was turned, that he realised something was wrong.

 _We need to talk._

~ _Chie/Yosuke._

He sighed, of course he couldn't just have a normal school day. Who was he kidding, nothing was 'normal' about him anymore.

 _ **Later**_

Lunch time started with a collective sigh of relief from the student body. 'King Moron' leaving the room signalled Chie's opportunity to rush over to Yu's desk, Yosuke trailing behind. "Hi Narukami-san, I'm glad you're feeling better!" He smiled, "as am I, Satonaka-san, but I have to ask, what's up with the note? 'we need to talk' is there something wrong?" The mood turned worried as Chie anxiously wrung her hands together, "well, I'm just worried… after the whole _TV world_ thing, things have just been different yaknow? And then Yukiko not turning up today, and not letting me know! I'm just…" It was obvious to Yu what Chie feared, and whilst he saw the similarities now that she mentioned it, he wanted to assure her.

"Have you tried calling her?"

"Yeah! It just went to voicemail!" Yosuke turned to Yu, "You don't think?"

"Think what?" Chie cried. Yosuke turned to her, "the midnight channel showed the outline of a girl last night… And now Yukiko's not here…" he chose not to finish his train of thought, but the damage had already been done. Chie began panicking, eyes wide, breaths becoming ragged, Yu recognised the signs of a panic attack instantly. "Is there any other way you could contact Amagi-san? Her house? What about that Inn you told me about?" Yosuke piped In; "Yeah! The Amagi inn, try calling their front desk!" Chie didn't even say anything, just grasped her mobile and dialed the number. Yu watched her shift side to side, anxiously waiting for someone to answer. After a few tense moment's, Chie started speaking.

"Hello, is this the Amagi Inn?" The voice on the other end said something. "Okay, I'm just calling to ask if Yukiko Amagi is there today, I'm her friend; Chie Satonaka", once more, Yu simply waited for the girl to speak again, feeling a sense of relief when Chie's face brightened, "Oh, so she's just helping out at the Inn today? Awesome! Wait, it's not awesome… just glad I uh know she's okay, because I was worried…" she continued to ramble, and Yu brought his hand across his neck in a slashing motion, and Chie quickly wrapped up her conversation and hung up.

Immediately she whirled on Yosuke, scowl on her face, "You _IDIOT,_ do you know how much you scared me with the whole; midnight channel crap!?" Yosuke brought his hands up in defence, "Hey! I'm glad that Yukiko is okay! But you gotta see why I was worried, especially with this midnight channel thing… you already said you watched it! Surely you gotta see that whoever that was on the screen looked like Yukiko-san". Yu erred on that point, whilst Yukiko would fit the outline they saw, to jump to such a conclusion was a bit of a stretch in his opinion. "So, we know Amagi-san is fine, is there anything else we have to discuss?" The silverette, whilst grateful for the companionship still had to finish his lunch, so when Chie shook her head, Yu went about grabbing his bag, pulling out a bento box he prepared during breakfast, just a pair of simple sandwiches Nanako had insisted she make for him, another touching moment to him. And right now? He would enjoy these sandwiches in the company of two quiet friends.

"So Chie, are your family still looking for a Tv after you kicked their old one?"

"Shut up Yosuke!"

 _Scratch that; company of two 'loud' friends._

At least the sandwiches were good.

 _ **Later**_

He shouldn't of eaten those sandwiches, he had been rather greedy for food recently, with the steak skewers, full English breakfast and now these sandwiches in such a short time. His broken internal organs couldn't digest them quick enough and thus Yu found himself face down in a toilet at school, spewing out his lunch, with one last pained heave, he found his stomach empty and let out a ragged breath of relief and disgust. He couldn't even indulge in eating anymore without risk. And the worst part was that it's only going to get worse, the closer his _time_ drew near. He hated it, _despised_ it, but was utterly helpless to do anything about _it_. _No use crying over spilt milk, I better head back, rather not worry everyone._ It had been during his fourth class where his lunch had come back to bite him, and he had rushed (stumbled pathetically) out of the room, and to add even more salt to the embarrassed wound, he had stumbled by Kanji on his way to the bathroom, so there was another person concerned about his well being. Wiping his mouth with some of the toilet roll, he spat out anything that remained and flushed the evidence away. The damaged teen scrubbed his hand harshly and quickly left to continue his day, pointedly trying to ignore any strange looks he received, he'd have enough trouble explaining he was fine to Youske, Chie and Kanji, the rest of the school body could get stuffed for all he cared. He already noticed it today; everyone besides his friends gave him a wide berth, unsure how to act around the _cripple._

Just another thing _wrong_ with him, nothing to get worked up about.

 _ **Later**_

School ended with no more incidents, Yu pointedly ignored the concerned looks from Yosuke and Chie. He even had a quick chat with Kanji between classes, and if Yu thought he people gave him a wide berth, he literally caught multiple people redirecting down different school corridors to simply _avoid_ Kanji. And suddenly Yu was much more sympathetic to why the punk teenager skipped school so often. And with that; his first day back at school ended, started of poorly, had an worrying conversation about halfway through, and finished it off with throwing up, all in all, Yu considered it a rather mediocre school day.

 _Can't wait for tomorrow's._

He exited the school ground, moving at his slow pace, fellow students passed him by quickly, for Yu it only emphasised just how damn _slow_ he was.

"Hey! Senpai! Wait up!" He recognised that voice, and from how everyone near him began to shuffle ever so slightly away from him; Kanji. So wait he did, and soon enough; the dyed blond punk reached the silverette. "Senpai, dya mind if we walk home together? My… my house is on the way and all…" Yu smiled, Kanji's obvious shyness amused him, and whilst he was unsure _why_ the teen was shy, it wasn't like he'd confront the teen on it. His smile turned cheeky; "eh… Whyyyyyyyyy?

"Uh… cuz like I said, we go the…" Yu chuckled; "I was being facetious Kanji-kun, of course I don't mind". Kanji nodded, "Awesome, let's get goin' then!" And the punk began moving, Yu following suit, and Yu noticed something rather heartwarming; Kanji was walking a deliberately slower pace… for _him._ He didn't make a scene of walking slower, asking if Yu was _okay_ , no, he just _did_ it organically. It was nice.

"Uh, by the way Senpai… What does facetious mean?"

"It means replying to serious question in a joking manner essentially".

"Oh… c-cool! Thanks for… yaknow, not calling me dumb or some shit for not knowing… I know I ain't _that_ smart and all..." Yu's eyes caught Kanji's bashful expression at admitting his lacking intellect, however, the crippled teen shrugged, "it's _cool_ Kanji-kun".

"Nah Senpai, I'm serious… thank… oh!" Kanji's eyes met Yu's smirking face, "You're being facei… faciet…"

"Facetious, and yes, yes I was". Kanji just laughed, and Yu suddenly found today's utterly _meh_ school day worth it, if the enjoyable companionship he would be sharing with Kanji told him anything. "Yaknow Senpai, you're pretty smart…"

 _Yeah… it's like the one thing I have going for me at this point._

 _ **Later**_

"I'm back!" He said as he opened the front door, "welcome back!" replied a childlike voice. Once inside the house, he saw Nanako, sat at the kotetsu watching the local news. Yu wasn't too interested in what was being reported, at least he wasn't until the recognisable figure of Yukiko Amagi was shown.

" _This is an interview that was conducted earlier in the week, with one Miss. Amagi Yukiko about her family's inn popularity."_ Yu watched the recording with mild interest, not due to the inns apparent popularity, but with Yukiko herself, how her answers to any questions were delivered in a bored, monotonous voice, how, when the interviewer questioned her about when she would take over the family inn, how Yukiko's eyes turned almost dull in expression. _She looks sad._ A way of feeling Yu was more than familiar with. Unfortunately, besides recognising the signs of sadness in the teen, there's was nothing he could do, it was Yukiko's issue, nothing to do with him. "There anything else on, Nanako-chan?" The little girl shrugged and tapped a random button on the remote, and very quickly Yu found himself regretting that question.

"~Everyday's great at your Junes~".

 _I was right… that has got annoying._

"Hey Nanako how about we get started on dinner? Hopefully your dad gets back in time".

"Yay! Can we have ramen?"

"Of course we can! Although, I'll need help from a talented sous-chef… but I wonder where I could find one?" Nanako jumped to her feet, arm stretching into the air, "me, me, me! I'm your sous-chef!" Yu tutted, "I don't know… are you sure Nanako-chan?" He held back his smug grin for as long as he could, but when the little girl began to pout, he chuckled warmly. "Okay, okay, I'm sorry… very well sous-chef, let's wash our hands and get to work!" Nanako gave him a enthusiastic thumbs up.

 _This girl's too much._

And so, the pair went about preparing a nice wholesome dinner, Yu's cooking talent and Nanako's childlike enthusiasm melding together. Thankfully, they managed to put together a rather delectable, multiple servings of ramen, Yu wanted for Nanako to eat it straight away, but she wanted to wait for Dojima, so he acquiesced to her plea and thus they waited.

And waited.

And waited.

Dojima wasn't coming home tonight.

And so, a damaged teenager and a saddened girl ate reheated ramen for dinner that night.

 _ **Later**_

He had sent Nanako to bed a while ago, and retired for the night himself shortly after, Dojima could reheat his own damn ramen in Yu's irritated opinion. He checked the time; _11:58 pm._ It was almost time for the midnight channel, he had already unplugged his TV and sat himself down in front of the TV, he was hoping to see nothing tonight, naive he realised, and thus the realist in him knew he wouldn't get his wish. As he awaited the remaining minute, he reread a text Yosuke had sent him a couple of hours ago.

 _ **Yosuke: Hey dude! Chie was still panicking and stuff about Yukiko… even though she knows she was at the Inn. So we went to Junes and checked in with that Teddie… thing? He said no-ones over there. Even told us that he could smell when someone ends up in that world. Maybe we could use that?**_

It was long and neatly written, so Yu assumed his friend had utilised spell-check, after Yu's spelling correction the other day. There was no time to ponder anymore, as his unplugged TV flared to life, and immediately Yu knew something was different, the screen was no longer static, instead it was crystal clear, showing the image of a medieval, grandiose castle, complete with moat and drawbridge. But what really screamed; _'something was terribly wrong'_ to Yu, was when Yukiko Amagi strolled into view, dressed in a princess outfit, her eyes terrifyingly yellow in colour, disquieting smirk on her face.

" _ **~I've got my lacy unmentionables on~!"**_

…

…

…

 _What have I gotten myself into?_

 _ **Later**_

They were doing it. They were willingly entering the TV world to save one; Yukiko Amagi. ' _They'_ being Yu, armed with a lug wrench, his pill bottle secured in his pocket. Yosuke, wielding dual spanners, nervously adjusting his headphones, and Chie, decked out with her… shoes? Trying desperately not to demand they move faster.

They had met up in school this morning, Chie exasperated in panic, Yosuke open mouth gaping, and Yu contemplating heavily. They had all seen the midnight channel, and had unanimously agreed to head into the TV as soon as school ended, which explained why they were still in their school uniforms despite school having finished. The trio stood at the same TV they fell into at Junes, Yu taking a deep, calming breath before putting his hand _through_ the screen, shortly before going inside it, followed quickly by Yosuke and Chie. The travel between worlds was just as confusing and nauseating as the first time, but thankfully they all ended up in the same stage like area. Now all they had to do was find Teddie.

"Hi there! Sensei, Sensei's friends!"

 _Speak of the devil._

Yu didn't even get a chance to great the bear mascot back, before Chie rushed over, grabbing the bear; "is there someone _else here!?_ A girl; Yukiko Amagi!?" The bear waved his arms; terrified from Chie's forcefulness, "ah Senpai! Help me!" Yu rushed over, and intervened before Chie broke the poor thing, "Hey Teddie, sorry about Satonaka-san… you see, we think a friend of hers has been thrown in here, any chance you can tell us if she has?"

"Oh Sensei! That's _beary_ bad! I'll check right away!" The bears _face_? Grew serious, it's stubby nose sniffing heavily, "hmmm… I'm definitely picking up something _beary_ strange… _this_ way!" And Teddie marched onwards in a seemingly random direction, Chie frantically following right behind, Yu and Yosuke sharing a worried glance. Alas however, they had no other choice but to follow the strange bear-like creature. And Yu had to swallow a pained groan from escaping his mouth, mere minutes in this world and already his body was hurting. He patted his pills reassuringly, bolstered with the knowledge he had them.

 _I can do this… I can do this._

 _ **Later**_

"Ho-holy shit dude! There's just a castle… _here_!?" Yu had to agree with Yosuke's shock, they had been walking for what seemed like a while, the path they took having no similar architecture to the castle that stood before them. Even with the glasses he, Chie and Yosuke wore didn't help them see _this_ thing coming. But the castle confirmed it, Yukiko was in this world.

And it was up to three inexperienced teenagers to save her.

 _God, this all sounds like a dumb anime._

"This is where that smell is coming from, inside that _beary_ scary castle, near the top of it, I'd wager that's where your friend is".

"So all we gotta' do to save Yukiko is get to the top of this castle? Then let's get going!" Chie ran off, determined to save her friend, leaving the two boys in the dust. Yosuke shouted at her and began to chase after her, before stalling and turning to Yu, who only waved his arm; "go after her! I'll catch up!" Yosuke hesitated for a moment before nodding, and rushed after the girl, leaving Yu with Teddie.

 _Goddamnit, what is wrong with that girl!?_ He began to limp after them, struggling to keep up any modicum of speed, worse, he could already feel his chest begin to tighten. And to prevent the oncoming attack, he quickly popped a pill into his mouth and swallowed. As he limped, he looked at his bear companion. "Can you follow where Chie went?" The bear nodded, "just follow me Sensei, be aware though, the castle will be filled with _dangerous_ shadows". He nodded. _Just great._

"lead the way Teddie, I'll handle any shadows that pop up". He hoped to be able to at least. And thus, the pair entered the castle.

 _ **Later**_

They had been walking for a few minutes before anything of note happened, Teddie had explained the _science?_ Behind the castle, apparently it was a manifestation of Yukiko's inhibited wants and desires multiplied exponentially, and that the yellow eyed Yukiko they had seen was her shadow running amuck, just like Yosuke's. Another thing Yu figured out about this castle; was its layout; it had impossible space, corridors that stretched on forever, stairs that seemed to go on forever, aspects that Yu just _loved_.

"Sensei, I sense a _beary_ dangerous shadow incoming!"

"Get behind me Teddie, just let me know what direction". The bear complied, pointing right in front of them, so Yu waited anxiously for the incoming attacker, he didn't have to wait long before a black sludge like monster splurged forward, morphing into an entirely different creature; a small pixie looking creature with wings. "Ah! Sensei, watch out!" The warning was a little too late, as before Yu knew it, a small bolt of lightning had struck him, he recoiled at the impact, the damage being inconsequential compared to what he had already been through. However, Yu couldn't just stand there and let himself be hit. It was time to _return_ the favour.

 _I only need you for a second._

"Persona!" He cried, the familiar ethereal form of the one armed Izanagi materialising before him, and just as it did so, his chest suddenly suffered a spike of pain. _It's just like the other times I summoned him_. It hurt, and just like the other times, it enraged his persona; Izanagi screeched viciously as it shot forward and grasped the pixie creature, and squeezed, the shadow letting out a pained scream, before one final twitch of Izanagi's clawed gauntlet silenced the shadow for good. Yu immediately dissipated the persona, relief filling him as the spiking pain subsided slightly, enough for him to calmly pop yet another pill into his mouth.

"Woweeee sensei! Your persona is _super_ strong!"

 _And super dangerous for me, it isn't a coincidence, everytime I summon Izanagi, I have an episode. I need to catch up to Yosuke and Chie, got to regroup._

Yu glanced at where the shadow used to be and was surprised to find a pile of cash just laying there. He scooped it up and pocketed it, it wasn't much, but it was free money. He asked Teddie why the shadow dropped real world money, but the bear had no idea either. _Best not to wonder, this world makes no sense as is._ And as he turned to follow Teddie once again, a bright light caught his eyes, _what's that?_ It was… a card? It floated towards Yu who stalled in befuddlement, the card stopped inches away from his face and did nothing, as if waiting.

 _Could it be?_

He reached his arm out and grasped the card in his hand, images shooting through his mind at the contact; _Pixie_. He closed his fist and the card burst into light, before fading into his body.

 _ **You have attained a new persona… a unique ability only bequeathed to the wildcard…**_

 _ **Use it wisely.**_

The voice of a certain long nosed individual echoed in his mind.

"Multiple persona?"

"Sensei?" Yu looked up from his musings, Teddie staring at him worriedly "Are you okay Sensei? You've been staring at nothing for a few seconds". _Seconds!? That whole thing felt like minutes!_

"I'm fine Teddie, come on, we have to catch up!" Teddie nodded and continued on, leaving Yu to clench his fist, _welcome to the team then; Pixie._

 _ **Later**_

They continued for an unknown amount of time, Yu having to battle shadows here and there, in the first fight after the pixie, he found himself summoning said persona, and it felt… different to summoning Izanagi, he still felt a spike of pain, but it was nothing compared to Izanagi being summoned. unfortunately, Yu had no idea why this was, just that it _was._ Another thing he noticed was that Pixie was nowhere near as strong as Izanagi, but instead had the ability to cure wounds. Unfortunately, the healing spell didn't affect his increasing chest pains and exhaustion, and to add even more fuel to the fire, he was already through a quarter of his pills, and ignoring the fact that consuming as many pills as he already had was risky, if the way this castle assault was going carried on, consuming a quarter of his pills would be the least of his worries. He could only hope they were close to Yosuke and Chie. Teddie seemed to think so; "This way sensei! Just up these stairs, I can smell them!" _Great… more stairs, goddamnit Chie… making me rush._ But he complied and followed Teddie up the stairs to come upon… an empty, large circular room. Yu looked around, no Yosuke or Chie, "I thought you said they were here, Teddie?" said bear anxiously glanced around, "their scent is strong here… they must have just been here!" Yu didn't like that, where were they then? That's when his eyes landed on a pair of headphones lying on the ground, and Yu felt something drop in his gut. "Teddie, those are Yosuke's, can you get any other scents off them?" Teddie sniffed Yosuke's accessory, "Oh that's _beary_ bad…"

"Teddie?"

"I can smell a shadow from this… a _beary_ powerful shadow… kind of like Yosuke's shadow but different". The silverette raised a worried brow, "But I already beat Yosuke's shadow…" a thought occurred to him, "Teddie… is it possible for a person's shadow _besides_ Yukiko's to be in this castle?"

"I guess so sensei, but I don't see how that matters. Whose shadow would it besides Yukiko's… oh…"

"Chie… Teddie, if someone denies there shadow… how long do they have before…" Teddie whimpered, and Yu suddenly found a lump in his throat, "not long then… damn!"

"No sensei, I'd say if Chie's shadow isn't beaten by the end of today… Chie, and Yosuke will be killed".

 _Damn it, shit, what the hell am I supposed to do? Keep climbing this stupid castle?_ Even the mere thought of challenging this place by himself made his chest hurt. But it wasn't like he could just leave, and leave Yosuke, Chie and Yukiko to their fates. That simply was not the kind of person Yu was. _There wasn't really any other option._

It was time to be a god damned hero, and here he was thinking his last year in the quiet town of Inaba would be uneventful. He sighed; "lead the way Teddie".

"But sensei! The shadows will only get stronger from here on, are you sure you can…" Yu stomped his foot, "what damn _choice_ do I have!? You said it yourself, Chie's shadow will kill them _today,_ if I leave, I might as well tie the noose around their necks myself", his voice lowered to whisper, _"No one should have to die hopelessly…"._ Teddie stared at Yu for a moment, then he nodded slowly and motioned for the teen to follow. Yu patted his pills, slapped his numb arm and leg harshly to pump himself up, and followed after. He wasn't too worried about the random shadows they'd bump into on their way up, but the thought of facing not only Chie's shadow, but Yukiko's as well… especially if Yosuke was unable to help out, it _worried_ him greatly. He knew he'd have to utilise _Izanagi_ if that fear came to fruition despite the agony he'd suffer.

He only hoped his body could handle it.

 **Chapter 5 finished**

 **So… whatcha think? Good? Bad? Meh? Please lemme know any issues or praises y'all might have I'm the comments. Thank you kindly for reading, and I wish y'all a fine day.**


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